To Love a Slayer
by Hurt.In.Cnfuzn
Summary: Set post-Season 8 of Buffy. The world has finally calmed, yet new Slayers continue to appear. Will Spike finally get to understand his feelings, and finally move on from Buffy?  Spike/OC
1. New Slayers

**Author's Notes:**

This story was not meant to be well written. It's kinda like when an artist doodles, and their drawing isn't meant to be a masterpiece, it was just sort of done. That's what this is. Also, I'll be using this OC a lot in future fanfics, this is just an intro to her. Also, I created none of these characters (except for K). Joss is a genius, everyone go worship him. That is all.

**New Slayers**

With thousands of Slayers all around the globe, Buffy has finally gotten used to being a general of her army. With their HQ hidden away, dozens of new Slayers come in every day to start their training, and to find a place in the army. Only a handful of slayers stay at HQ. This is mainly the Scooby gang, and around 20 other Slayers. Buffy doesn't really pay too much attention to the other Slayers seeing as, even to her own surprise, there is no Big Bad out there right now. The Slayer army has found their place in the world, keeping it safe. Now that Twilight has revealed his identity, Angel is now staying with the Scoobies at the Slayer HQ. Just recently, Spike has arrived, and Buffy is sitting down with him in the lobby, talking to him for the first time since they left Sunnydale after his death.

"So that's how you came back," Buffy said after Spike finished his story about his adventures at Wolfram and Hart. "Angel, you knew this whole time and didn't tell me?"

"I wanted to die a hero, Buffy," Spike said. "I never planned to come back."

"Why are you here, then?" Willow asked. "Not that I'm not glad to see you, it's just, you never planned to come back and yet here you are."

"Something just called me here," Spike told her. "I thought there was some impending doom or big evil around these parts, but then I found your little hang out, and thought you were in trouble or something."

Buffy frowned and shook her head. "No trouble. But I'm glad you're here."

Angel cleared his throat.

Buffy and Angel were officially a couple now. They had decided that nothing was standing in their way at this point, and that they would be together forever, completely in love. That was, of course, until Spike arrived.

Xander and Dawn came from upstairs, giggling and flirting until they saw Spike, when they suddenly fell silent.

"Aw, so the pirate and the little-bit are together now, are they?" Spike teased. "There's a lot I need to catch up on."

"Buffy!" called Satsu, running into the lobby from outside the HQ. There was a point in time where Satsu was in love with Buffy. It was believed by many who stayed at HQ that this was the reason that Buffy decided to keep her around HQ.

"Yes, what is it, Satsu?"

"The new Slayers have come in. There's around ten of them."

"Good. Send them in and I will assign them a regime."

"There's just one problem," Satsu said, a bit nervous.

"What?"

"They're all almost dying."

Everyone gasped.

"What do you mean?" Buffy asked.

"Well, I was driving them here, and we got attacked by a huge group of vampires, and most of them were bitten. I was able to not get injured, but the rest of them aren't in good shape. We need to get them to the infirmary. Right now."

"I'll come with," Spike said, standing up. "I want to see how General Buffy runs this place."

Buffy rolled her eyes, but proceeded to the infirmary. Angel kept a close eye on Spike.

There were ten beds lined up, each one with a bloody girl fast asleep in them.

"This batch needs some serious training," said Satsu. "There were around 20 vamps, we should've been able to take them easy."

"Twenty?" Willow repeated. "These vamp nests are getting huge!"

"Yeah. Anyway, none of them did any killing except for this one," Satsu said, pointing to the smallest girl in the batch. "She's a fighter, that one. And there's something different about her. Whatever it is, I like her. The only reason she's down is because she was trying to protect the others. She's almost as good of a slayer as I am."

Spike walked to the side of the girl's bed. "She can't be more than five feet, this one."

"She's not," Satsu said. "She's tiny, but she's got some passion in her."

The girl was small. Her skin was a bit dark, and her black hair barely reached her shoulders. She looked so innocent, despite all the blood, while she was asleep.

"I say we keep her at HQ," Satsu said, "and send the rest off to the training camp. That is, if that's okay with you, Buffy."

"Well, you're the one who's seen these girls in action. With you making that decision means less work for me. I agree. Except for the fact we don't have any more rooms here at HQ."

"I'll figure it out," Satsu said, winking.

Angel noticed something weird with Spike. Ever since he had walked into the infirmary, he had not looked at anyone else except for that small Slayer.

"I'm going to stay here," Angel said. "Just to make sure the girls are all right."

"Okay," Buffy said, giving him a light kiss. "I think I'm going to take a nap. It's been a while since I've been able to."

"You do that, Buffy."

"Well, I think Kennedy is waiting in our room. I'll be off, too," Willow said, leaving Spike, Angel, and Satsu alone with the slayers.

"That one is special," Satsu said, looking at the girl instead of the vampires. "I'm not really sure what it is about her. But she's so innocent, yet really hot at the same time. Like, when she was fighting those vamps, I could sense her passion. But yeah, she's really hot."

"She's pretty cute," Angel said.

"She's beautiful," Spike whispered.

The girl began to open her eyes, she blinked twice, and then looked up. "I… where am I?"

"Hey, K, I knew you'd be the first to get up," Satsu said, smirking. "You're the toughest one in this batch."

She sat up and rubbed the back of her head. "I failed you, Satsu. Look at all these injured girls."

"You were the best Slayer out there, the only one protecting us. You're at HQ, by the way, in the hospital. The one next to you is Spike, and this one is Angel."

"Spike… and Angel… it's very nice to meet you."

"Yeah. What d'you call yourself?"

"Well, my name is Kavitha, my friends just call me K."

"Just K?"

"Just K. Like the letter."

"How mysterious," Angel said.

"Oh, no, I'm not trying to be mysterious or anything," K said. "Just trying to make other people's lives easier."

"Well, I should go," Angel said, standing up. "Satsu, come and help me inform the training camp that they will be receiving nine new Slayers tomorrow."

"Right," Satsu nodded and left the hospital with Angel.

"So nine of us are going into training? I wonder which one of us is staying," K said, mostly to herself.

"You're the one that's staying, Pet," Spike informed her. "Heard you're the toughest in this crowd."

"Well, I'm glad that I'll get to hang around HQ, but… might I ask who you are? I mean, you're obviously not a Slayer."

Spike chuckled. "Can't hide anything from you," he said, just before he told K his story. About becoming a vampire, falling in love with Buffy, and fighting for a soul.

"That's a beautiful story," K said. "Mine isn't nearly as poetic. I was a girl, I was a weirdo, now I'm a Slayer, and I'm here."

"Weirdo?" Spike repeated. "I don't think you're weird."

"Maybe not weird, but I'm still sorta…"

"Different," Spike finished for her.

"Yeah. I guess that's the nice way of putting it."

They both laughed together. Spike sat down next to her bed. The two of them continued to talk, completely innocently and casually, as if they had known each other for centuries, just conversing back and forth.

Out of nowhere, K leaned forward and lightly kissed Spike on his lips. He did not object, yet she pulled away just as quickly as she had moved forward.

"Oh, God," she gasped. "Spike, I am so sorry. I didn't mean to—"

"No, don't apologize. I—"

"Spike?" said a voice from just outside the hospital door. It opened slightly and Satsu poked her head in. "You're still in here?"

"Yeah."

"Buffy's organizing a Scooby meeting and I thought you could join us. And K if she's feeling up to it."

"Oh, I'm more than up to it," K said, standing on her own two feet. "I am a Slayer, after all, and I heal very quickly."

"Come on, then."

The three of them went out to the lobby and sat down around a table. Buffy was at the head of the table, going around to Dawn with Xander, Giles, and Satsu, Willow, Kennedy, and Spike at the other end of the table, circling around to Angel, and K sitting next to Buffy.

"Our new Slayer is joining us right now?" Buffy asked.

"Y-yes, ma'am," K said a bit nervously. "Um, my friends call me K so I guess any of you guys here can call me that. Satsu told me that I'm going to be staying at HQ with you guys."

"Where do you proposes she sleeps, Satsu?" Buffy asked. Yet Satsu, Willow, and Kennedy seemed to be giggling about something in their own circle. Spike looked like he was listening in on the conversation. He was not amused.

"Oh. She's going to sleep in my room. I'll deal with the rest, don't worry," Satsu told Buffy promptly before going back into her circle with the other girls and Spike.

"So you think she's gay?" Satsu asked Kennedy. "She is rather attractive. It's weird, how someone so… almost innocent can be called hot. I feel almost ashamed for calling her hot."

"She is pretty adorable," Willow said.

"I am definitely getting not-straight vibes from her," Kennedy said.

"She's got a pretty good gay-dar," Willow teased.

"I'm telling you, she's not bloody gay," Spike spat.

"Don't ruin this for me, Spike!" Satsu said. "I can't have Buffy, so now you're trying to take K away from me, too?"

"Welcome to my world, love," Spike told her.

"Spike, are you saying you're in love with K?" Willow asked.

"It's not love," Spike said. "I'll always love Buffy. It's just something… different."

"Or it would be if she were straight," Satsu said.

"She bloody kissed me!"

"No way!" Satsu gasped. "Well, there goes my chance. Kennedy, I thought you said she was gay?"

"I didn't say that. I just said she wasn't straight. She could be bi. Actually, now that I think about it, emotionally, I think she's straight. But I think physically, she prefers women."

"Her gay-dar doesn't lie," Willow teased Kennedy again.

"So she'll love Spike, but she'll want to fuck me?" Satsu asked. "Hey, I'm down with that."

Spike simply sighed, and didn't speak after that. Honestly, he didn't know how he felt about her. He loved Buffy, he knew that for sure. And there was no sexual attraction between him and K. Then what was that feeling he got when she kissed him? It made his blood race more than ever before, it felt like the roots of his hair were tickling his brain. It felt almost like when he kissed Buffy, except a million times more passionate and more real. It was real. Spike almost forgot what life was like before he met K. Now, he was real. But this wasn't love… what was it?

"Kennedy, Satsu, did you two get that?" Buffy said from across the table.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, we got it," Satsu lied. "Do you know what she just said?" she whispered to Kennedy.

She shook her head. None of them were paying attention.

"Good," Buffy said. "We'll end this, then."

She left, and the people around the table scattered to their places.

K walked up to the girls and Spike. "She said you two need to patrol tonight," she told them. "I could kinda tell you weren't paying attention."

Satsu frowned. "Tonight I've gotta patrol? Ugh, this sucks. D'you want to come with?"

"I would, but I've sorta had enough of vamps for one night. Er… I mean, evil vamps," she added quickly realizing Spike was still amongst them.

"Well, we'll see you around," Kennedy said, practically dragging Satsu outside to patrol.

"Maybe I can show you around HQ," Willow told K.

"That would be really great," K said. "Thanks, Willow."

Angel came and sat next to Willow. "Hey, new Slayer," he said.

"Hello, Angel," K said sweetly.

"Angel, would you like to help me give K the grand tour?" Willow asked.

"Sure, why not?"

"That's good. I can imagine how it feels being the new person in a place like this. All the bonds we have are so close, I can only imagine how difficult it would be to try to break into that."

"Not at all. I feel Satsu and I are very good friends," K said with a smile. "And I've gotten to know Spike. But a tour with you and Angel should help me feel right at home."

"Excellent. Spike, would you care to join us? Considering you're sort of new to the building, too."

"Spike," Buffy said, approaching the group. "I need to talk to you. We haven't gotten much of a chance to say anything to each other since you arrived. I just wanted to get some things straightened out."

"Sure thing," Spike said, standing up and walking away with Buffy.

"Well, that tour isn't going to take itself!" Willow said, enthusiastically dragging K by the arm to show her around the building.

Angel and Willow took K around the building, showing her the main base of operations for the Slayers. They also got to know her a bit more. Her history, her view on life. They came to the conclusion that she was very different from anyone they had ever met before.

"And these are the rooms," Willow said, pointing down the hallway. The one at the end is mine and Kennedy's, and the one next to it is Satsu's. So you'll be staying there with her."

"I remember you said Spike was new to HQ, too… where is he sleeping?" K asked.

"You don't have to worry about Spike," Angel said.

"But I am worried about him."

"We'll make him sleep outside like a dog or something," Angel said, attempting to joke.

"We're still working on our Spike situation," Willow said. "Anyway, we should go back to the lobby."

When they went down, it was completely empty except for Buffy and Spike, still talking, the mood dark and serious.

"You're still down here?" Angel said, moving swiftly towards Buffy before putting his arms around her. "Let's go to bed."

"Just remember what I told you," Buffy reminded Spike before allowing Angel to take her away.

"K, I'll be in my room. The door is open for you to come in. Kennedy is out patrolling, so I'll be lonely. And so is Satsu, so if you want to room with me tonight, that's totally fine."

"Thanks, Willow," K said. "I think I'll do that. I'll come up in about five minutes."

Willow smiled sweetly, and left the lobby.

"Where are you sleeping, Spike?" K asked.

"Oh, just out here. In the lobby. They haven't got a room for me, so I'm like a second layer of security in here."

"I see," K said.

"You must be tired, what with the vamp slaying and all. You should probably head up there with Willow."

"Oh, I slept enough in the hospital. Not very tired right now."

"Yeah? Well, then how was your tour of the building?"

"Fine. Just fine. And, um, how was your talk with Buffy?"

A moment of silence lingered in the air between them.

"Great," Spike finally said. "Just great."

"You don't sound like it was too great."

"We just caught up. I told her about how I was a ghost and then recorporialized at Wolfram and Hart. She told me about leading the Slyer Army. It was just fine."

"You still love her," K said. It wasn't a question.

"What the bloody hell does 'love' mean, anyway?" Spike said.

"Does she still love you?" K asked.

"I don't know," Spike said. "She told me that she had never lied to me. She said every word she uttered was true, right up to my death. So I guess she meant it when she told me she loved me."

"That is great."

"No, it's not. She's with Angel now. She might love me, but not in the same way. I'll never be with Buffy."

"You love her so much. I guess me saying, 'life goes on, and so should you,' isn't going to do much to you, is it?"

Spike chuckled. "There's something about you."

"What? Did I say something wrong?"

"No, it's just—"

"Oh, I've got an idea!" K interrupted. She ran and jumped onto the table where Buffy held the meetings and begun to spin around. "Come on, Spike!"

Spike approached the table with caution as it shook while K continued to move on it. "What are you doing?"

"Dancing, of course! Come join me, there's just enough room for the two of us." She held Spike's arms and aided him in getting up on the table. He put his left hand on her waist, and his right hand in her other hand as she put her other hand around his neck. K began to hum a little tune as the two of them swayed back and forth, moving around on the table.

"Why are we doing this?" Spike asked.

"What? You've never danced on a table before? You, my friend, have not lived until today. I'm glad you decided to do this with me."

Spike smiled a genuine smile for the first time in God knows how long. "I'm glad I decided to do this, too."

K smiled up at him before spinning around and falling into Spike's arms.

"Whew. That's what I call a finale," she chuckled, standing up straight again and jumping off the table.

Spike followed. "I can't even begin to figure you out."

"Stop trying to figure life out, and just live it. I'm off to bed. Goodnight, William."

"Goodnight, Kavitha."


	2. This Feeling

**Authors Notes:**

Again, Joss is a genius, etc, etc, he owns all this (except for K) and he's a bloody genius.

**This Feeling**

"Willow, can I ask you a kind of weird question?"

"You kind of just did," Willow said, smiling. "What's up, K?"

"What do you think about Spike?"

"Spike?" Willow repeated. "Spike is just… Spike."

"Yes, he is quite a character. I've never met someone quite like him. The way he moved on that table… I swear, I felt like I was flying."

Willow's eyes widened. "Y-you had sex with Spike on the table in the lobby?"

"What?" K exclaimed.

"What did you—"

"I didn't have sex with Spike! No, no, no! I was dancing with Spike!"

"Dancing?"

"Yeah. When the mood is either perfectly right, or completely wrong, I either start singing or dancing. And that table was right there, so I got on it and started dancing."

"You… dance on tables?"

"Yes, and Spike danced with me. It was kind of magical."

"Aw. That's kind of really adorable."

"You think so?"

Willow nodded. "To be honest, I can't really imagine you having sex with anyone. Although I can imagine you naked. Not that—I mean—I have a girlfriend—I—"

"I understand, Willow. Some people see me as really innocent. I can be, sometimes, but it's not like I'm totally ignorant to the world."

Willow nodded. "Satsu thinks you're pretty innocent. She told me she was almost ashamed to call you hot."

"Satsu thinks I'm hot?"

"Yeah, she does. I suppose you don't exactly roll that way, do you?"

"I find Satsu to be very beautiful, but now, I think my heart belongs elsewhere."

"Aw. Your heart belongs with Spike."

"It's not just some dumb crush, either. I mean, I've had plenty of dumb crushes. I've even been in love before. But this just feels like… like something more. More than love. But it's so real."

"You're a strange person. You should get some rest."

"Yeah. Maybe. G'night, Willow."


	3. Quite the Party

**Authors Notes:**

So Joss Whedon is a bloody genius, he owns all this (except for K) and I worship him every day. This chapter does have some girl on girl action, so if you don't like it, don't read it, it's not very relevant to the story.

**Quite the Party**

The next morning came quickly, and the HQ was buzzing. Kennedy and Satsu had ended their patrol for the night, giving them the day off. Things have been incredibly lax around the world now that the Slayer army was bringing peace around the world. And with a lack of a Big Bad, everyone was able to relax for once.

"Where's Buffy?" Spike asked a circle of people which included Willow, Kennedy, Satsu, Angel.

"She's sleeping in for once," Angel answered. "She hasn't gotten some decent sleep in a long time. She deserves it."

Spike nodded. "Good." He sat down and joined the circle. "I bet you're keeping her up all night."

"Spike…" Angel started.

"Just trying to be funny here," Spike said. "I wanted to ask her something, that's all."

"Fine."

"Where's K?" Spike asked the group.

Satsu pointed to where the fireplace was. K was sitting there by herself, reading a book.

Spike began to stand up, but Willow sat him down again.

"She's not talking to any of us," she said.

"She got up before anyone else was here," Satsu said. "Kennedy and I were coming in from our shift, and she was there. We tried to say hi to her, she didn't move an inch."

"Did you try to say something to her last night?"

"What? I didn't do anything to upset her or anything," Spike said in attempt to defend himself.

"Yeah, Spike didn't do anything bad," Willow said. "She was in a really good mood before she fell asleep last night. She roomed with me."

"I might as well try," Spike said, standing up again.

He went over and sat on the floor next to K. Everyone else was watching him from afar.

"K?" Spike said.

She didn't move.

"K?" Spike said again. "Are you all right?"

She turned a page in her book.

"Answer me, K, is everything all right?"

"Huh?" she said, finally looking up from her book and at Spike. "Oh, good morning, Spike! I didn't notice you. Oh, wow, the lobby has quite a few people. Oh, no, was I supposed to be doing something? Oh, God…

"No, nothing's wrong. You were just not moving and not responding to anyone. We thought something was wrong with you."

"Nope, I'm perfectly fine!" she perked up. She set the book down and stood up.

"You're sure?" Spike asked, guiding her to where everyone else was sitting.

"Yeah. I was just really into the book I was reading. I always get lost in other worlds. Hi, everybody! Sorry for being so dumb."

"Not dumb at all, I know just how it is with books," Willow said. "Sit down, join us. We were just enjoying some good relaxing time."

"Relaxing? There's no work to be done? Where's Buffy?"

"She's resting, too. C'mon, participate in our circle. We're not evil or anything. Well, most of us anyway."

"All right, then. What were we talking about?"

"We weren't really talking about anything," Kennedy said.

"Oh," K said. "I see."

"We're just all glad that there's no major work to be done right now," Willow commented. "Oh, here come Xander and Dawn! Thank goodness."

"Hey, peeps, how's it hangin'?" Xander asked as he and Dawn sat in between K and Spike. "What're we doing in a circle?"

"Absolutely nothing," Angel commented.

"This is what we do when we've got no work?" Xander asked. "C'mon, let's do something exciting!"

"Like what?" Satsu asked.

"I dunno. A drinking game or something."

"A drinking game? Must I remind you that it's the middle of the day?"

"And that some of us are under 21," K said quietly. She felt embarrassed for not being able to participate.

"No one is going to know," Xander told her. "And fine, if you guys just want to sit around. Dawn and I can play the drinking game up in my room."

"Wait," Spike said, standing up. "I'll come. There's something I need to ask you about anyway. We'll leave the rest of them here."

Xander shrugged, but allowed Spike to come up to his room.

"What's the deal?" Xander asked as Dawn closed the door behind her.

"How did you and the little bit know you were in love?" Spike asked him.

"We kissed," Dawn answered. "And the rest just fell into place."

"What do you think about K?" Spike asked.

"The new Slayer?" Dawn asked.

"Well, she's really… different. I've never met anyone like her," Xander said. "She seems nice, though."

"Yeah, she's a bit weird," Dawn said. "I don't really know her. But yeah, nice."

"I don't know how I feel about her," Spike said. "It's weird. It's not love. I'm in love with Buffy, I will be until the end of my life. But there's something. It almost feels like… more than love. If that's even possible."

"More than love?" Xander asked. "If you say so, Spike. If you want my advice, I say you go with this chick. I mean, Buffy's got Angel now, there's no way she's going to fall in love with you."

"She told me," Spike said quietly. "Buffy told me last night she still loves me."

"What? But she never really did love you."

"I know that. But I guess she feels guilty or something because I, y'know, died to save her and the world and stuff. I think she feels like she owes me something. And so she insists that she loves me."

"But as long as Angel's in the picture, you and her are impossible. So I say forget about Buffy and try going with someone you actually have a chance with."

"I don't want K to think she's a Buffy replacement or something like that."

"Then make it so she's not. Fall in love with her."

Spike sighed, and nodded. "I'll figure it out. Thanks anyway, though." He left the room.

Spike went back down to the lobby to see that Angel and Satsu were now talking amongst themselves (probably about Buffy), Kennedy and Willow were making out, and K had picked up her book again, silently reading to herself.

"Well, if you folks don't mind, I'm out for a walk," Spike informed them.

"Right. Out for a walk in the nice, warm, sunlight," Angel reminded him.

Spike stopped in his tracks. "Well, then. You guys are just the more exciting crowd. I can tell you, this ain't no party."

"If you want a party, start one," K said quietly into her book.

"What d'you mean? You can't just randomly start a party."

"Why not? We've got about twenty Slayers hanging around here doing nothing. We've got this gang right here doing nothing. We might as well play some music and get something started in here. If you want a party, you have to start one!" K stood up, climbed on the table, and projected her voice to the whole room. "Hey, guys! Spike and I are starting a party right here, right now! We want to play some music and have some fun! Is anyone opposed to this?"

Several shouts of, "Hell no, let's do it!" "Crank it up!" "Yeah, let's start a party!" came from the crowd of Slayers.

"Sweet!"

Satsu was already up and in the corner of the room, turned on a stereo where loud dance music proceeded to ring throughout the lobby.

K jumped off the table and proceeded to dance. She wasn't a good dancer, but boy, did she dance. For a moment, she was the only one before other people began to join her. Before long, the whole room was dancing.

Xander and Dawn came back down. "What's going on here?" they asked.

Willow went half way up the stairs to meet them. "It's a party! Come down and join us!"

"But you guys were snoozefest not too long ago," Xander mentioned.

"Yeah, but Spike and K wanted to start a party, so they just started one!"

"I want to join in," Dawn said. "Xan, I'm going to get the alcohol from our room."

Before long, the party was at a newfound height, with several people getting drunk. Willow and Xander didn't join back in, though, even if everyone looked like they were having a blast.

"Have you noticed something going on between K and Spike?" Willow asked Xander.

"Other than the fact that they are totally in love with each other?" Xander said. "Nope."

"But it's weird love. It's like it's more than love. They're almost meant to be. See? Look at them over there, right in the center of the dance floor, dancing. They're adorable."

"Yeah, they are pretty cute. It's weird, I never thought I would associate Spike with anything relating the word cute."

"I agree, but then you see him with K and all you can think is, 'D'awwwww.'"

Down on the dance floor, Spike had pulled K aside and they were sitting on the table.

"You've got me exhausted, pet," Spike said, taking a drink from a cup. "And I'm already drunk."

K laughed. "Me, too! I mean, I'm exhausted, too. And this is the first time I've had alcohol, I'm drunk for the first time in my life!"

"Y'know, you're really cute. And adorable. And beautiful. And the way you move is just sexy."

"I agree," K hiccupped. "I mean, I think you're really hot and sexy, too. It's weird, when I kissed you, it felt weird. In a good way, weird."

"K, I feel weird with you, too."

"It's like…"

"More than love," they said together.

"Destiny."

"Meant to be."

"More than lovers"

"You and me."

"Finishing our sentences…"

"It's like fuckin' poetry!"

K fell onto the ground laughing. "Oh, God, I'm so glad I got that out of my system. I had no idea how I was going to tell you how I felt."

Spike followed her onto the floor. "Me, too. I was so nervous."

The two of them rolled under the table where K fit perfectly into Spike's arms.

"It's more than love," she said again.

"It's beautiful. It's real. It's…"

"It's just us."

The two of them stayed there for a while, the loud music thumping in their heads, yet perfectly peaceful. K almost fell asleep before she spoke. "Hey, Spike?"

"What is it, Pet?"

"I don't really like being drunk. I feel like I'm going to be sick."

"Well, don't do that. Here." He lifted her in his arms, and began going upstairs.

Xander and Willow looked puzzled.

"I'm takin' this one to bed," Spike said.

"She looks a bit tired for sex, Spike," Xander told him.

"She's drunk," Spike said. "I'm just going to let her sleep. No sex was planned."

"Oh," Xander said, slightly embarrassed. "All right, then. G'night, K."

"Goodnight, mommy," K said.

"Pretty drunk," Willow commented.

At this point, Buffy had been woken up by the noise. She had come down to see what the racket was.

"What is going on here?" Her eyes shot to Spike.

"It wasn't me, love!" Spike defended himself. "It was this one. K started this party."

"It's true," Willow said. "We were sitting around all bored. Spike commented on how this wasn't a party. K got up and… well, started a party."

"Yeah," Spike said. "And I'm going to go end it now."

"She seems a bit wasted for sex," Buffy said bitterly.

"Bloody hell!" Spike exclaimed. "Why does everyone think I'm going to fuck this one? No, she's drunk, and I'm putting her to bed. That's it."

Buffy turned away from him to face Willow and Xander again. "You guys, make sure this is all over soon. And everyone is cleaning up after their mess. I'm not a big fan of random parties in the work place."

"Aw, just live a little, Buff," a drunk K said, still limp in Spike's arms. "This party brought massive amounts of good to all of us. Spike… Spike and I…" she giggled stupidly "Spike and I finally told each other… it's weird… how we feel… but… oh, God…"

"Right, then. Off to bed with you," Spike said, carrying her up the stairs.

"So they told each other how they feel," Willow said. "I think that's really great. They're so cute."

"Yeah," Xander said. "I'm just a little worried for her. Y'know, I don't want Spike to treat her like a, 'oh I couldn't get Buffy, so I'll settle for you' kind of girl."

"It seems like it's like that, but I don't think it's going to be. I sense something between those two. It's strong, and real."

"It's probably just lust," Buffy said before attempting to stop the party.

Spike opened the door to Satsu's room, laying K down ever so gently on the bed. "You be a good girl, all right?"

"Spike…" K said softly. "Spike?"

"Yeah? I'm right here." Spike held her hand as if it were made of fragile glass.

"You… you love Buffy."

"Yeah. But I more-than-love you." Spike kissed her on the forehead. "Goodnight."

She smiled stupidly. "Goodnight, Spike."

What felt like around ten seconds after Spike left, the door opened again and Satsu walked in. "Buffy ended the party," she said. "But it was so much fun. I'm glad you started it."

"Me, too," K said. "I'm so drunk right now. Oh, God."

Satsu smiled a devilish smile. "You're really that drunk?" she asked, crawling into bed next to K.

"Yeah," K hiccupped. "That drunk. Well, I dunno, I've never been drunk before…"

"Are you drunk enough that if I took advantage of you right now, you wouldn't be able to fight back?"

K hiccupped again. "Probably."

Satsu turned K's head to face her and lightly kissed her on the lips. "I'm going to give you a night to remember."

Satsu slowly removed K's shirt and removed her black bra. "You have nice breasts," Satsu commented, grasping them in her hands.

"Mmmmm," K said.

"It's pretty hot in here, isn't it?" Satsu asked, removing her own shirt and bra now.

"Just a little," K said.

"We'll fix that." Satsu unbuttoned K's fly, and slid her pants off. "Cute panties."

"Thanks," K said, giggling.

Satsu didn't look at them twice as she removed them, revealing what she really wanted. She spread K's legs apart, and put her face right by her center. "Hmmm." She moved her tongue from down to up and smiled. "Tastes good."

"That's… nice…" K said softly.

"What's my name?" Satsu asked.

K hiccupped again. "I… don't remember. But… good…"

Satsu laughed. "You're so cute. I'm going to make you scream." Satsu dug her tongue into her center, causing her to moan and shake with pleasure.

"That's… good… keep doing that…" K panted.

Satsu was all for dirty talk during sex, but her mouth was a little busy.

"Ah… ah… oh, _God,_" K moaned as her body shook and she came into Satsu's mouth.

Satsu chuckled darkly. "There, there. We're just getting started."


	4. Different than Love

**Author's Notes:**

All hail Joss Whedon. He owns all this (except for K). I'm getting good at keeping this short!

**Different than Love**

K woke up the next morning with a terrible headache. As she sat up, she noticed she wasn't wearing any clothes. She looked next to her to see Satsu, fast asleep, also naked.

"My God," she said, rubbing her head. "What the hell happened?"

Satsu slowly opened her eyes. "Oh, good morning, K." She sat up. "What a night last night was, huh?"

"Last night… I don't remember… there was a party… and Spike… the last thing I remember was Spike kissing my forehead. We told each other how we feel."

"Hm. I guess I didn't give you a night to remember."

"Spike… is that why I'm naked right now?"

Satsu answered her question by kissing her on the lips.

"I had sex with you last night," K said, not a question.

"You had four orgasms," Satsu teased. "It's a shame you don't remember. You kept begging me for more. God, I feel bad for taking advantage of you when you were drunk, but it was so good."

"Satsu… I…"

"I know, you're totally into Spike and all," she said. "I just thought I'd try it for a night. Don't worry, K, I get how you feel about me."

"You're a beautiful woman, Satsu," K said. "And a great friend."

Satsu nodded.

K got up and put on some clothes before going down to the lobby. Buffy was sitting at the table with Angel, Willow, and Spike.

"Good morning!" K said cheerily.

"You seem awfully chipper this morning," Willow said. "Had a good night's rest?"

"Hardly," K said, sitting down. "Apparently I barely slept at all. I don't really remember, though. Last night was fun. I would talk about it if I could remember any of it."

"Y-you don't remember anything from last night?" Spike hesitated.

"I remember about half of it," she said. "Oh, don't worry, I remember everything about you. I can't forget that."

Spike sighed, and then smiled.

"As I was saying…" Buffy said defiantly, "this is a small problem, but still a problem. So I'm sending this group of Slayers to LA to fix it."

"Will everyone be going?" Willow asked. "Y'know, non-Slayers."

Buffy shrugged. "If they want to, and if they can be a help. I know how you don't want to leave Kennedy."

"Then I'm coming, too," Angel said.

Buffy smiled and kissed him.

"Where are we going?" K asked Spike.

"Up to New York. Apparently there's some secret Vamp organization going on. That's why the Vamps are traveling in such huge packs lately. Like you had to fight of twenty on your way here."

"Yeah. So that's why. And their head honcho is in NYC? Awesome, I'm so up for a challenge!"

"And I'm going," Spike started, "to make sure you don't die."

"I'm not going to die," K giggled, lightly hitting Spike in the arm. "And it's no big deal if I die. We've only kinda sorta been together for, like, what, a day?"

"Honestly, Pet, I've forgotten how I could've possibly been happy before I met you."

"You're sweet."

Spike smiled, proud of himself.

"We're leaving tonight," Buffy said. "So I'd spend the time you have now training, getting warmed up."

"Would you care to spar with me, Spike?" K asked cheerily.

"I'd love to, Pet," he said.

K went into one of the training rooms that Willow had shown her the other day while on the tour. Spike simply followed her until they arrived in an empty room with just a cabinet of weapons and a punching bag.

"I haven't done any fighting since the day I arrived here," K said. "And even on that day I got knocked out. So I'm a little rusty."

And the two of them began to dance. Spike blocking every one of her punches and kicks, and K moving with incredible speed, trying to penetrate him.

"You're pretty good," Spike panted, slightly out of breath. "But not good enough." He blocked her fist, held onto her arm, and flipped her over onto her back. He lied down on top of her and put his face to her neck. "You've lost."

"Damn," K panted, practically gasping for breath. "Okay. Let's try that again."

They got up, and danced their dance again. K spun her arm around Spike's arm, knocking it out of the way just enough time to put her hand on his heart.

She smiled. "You've lost."

Spike put his hand over her hand. "I feel… something," he said quietly. "It almost feels like…"

"Your heartbeat," K finished. "I felt it for a moment, too."

Spike leaned, his face much too close to hers. His breath smelled like death and cigarettes. K inhaled deeply, letting the smell fill her lungs.

"I know you'll never love me," K said quietly.

"This is more than love, Pet," Spike said.

"That's just the thing," K said, pulling away from Spike. She couldn't look him in the eye. "Spike, I think you're okay. I even like you."

"You… like me?"

"Yeah, I like you. And I love you. And I more than love you. Every possible feeling of affection, I have towards you. Every good emotion comes when I'm with you. But for you, it's not like that. Some people that are part of the Scooby gang, you think they're okay. You like people like Willow and Satsu. You love Buffy. But I'm only there for one part, Spike, whereas you're my everything."

K fell on the floor, tears beginning to stream from her eyes. "I'm just a Buffy replacement. That's why Satsu liked me, too. She couldn't get Buffy, so I was there instead. It's the same thing for you."

Spike didn't know what to say. He couldn't lie to her.

Someone knocked on the door. K shot up and quickly rubbed her shirt on her eyes to hide the tears. "Yes, come in."

It was Angel. "We're getting ready to leave for New York now. There are four vamp nests in total there, one of which is the head of operations for all of these Vampires. We're clearing out the three nests, and then going in for the kill. K, you'd better head to the lobby. The Slayers are packing weapons right now."

"Oh, okay," she sniffled. "Thanks, Angel. I'll head down right now."

Once she left, Angel walked into the room, and put his arm on Spike's shoulder. "Not that I care," he started, "but you look a little down."

"It's just this whole thing with K. She thinks I'm treating her like a Buffy replacement. Which I can't say isn't true, because a part of me knows that I still love Buffy."

"You don't love Buffy anymore," Angel said. "And I can give you a few reasons why. First of all, if you say that you love Buffy, you come this much closer to me staking you."

Spike actually chuckled at this remark.

"Second," Angel continued, "When you fall in love, Spike, you fall in love hard. You're a hopeless romantic. Like, when you loved that girl back when you were human. You wrote poetry for her. You were in real love. Then came Drusilla, and you thought you two would be together forever. And once she left you all heartbroken and sad, this new obsession with Buffy came along in your head. Each time you were convinced that she was the one, Spike, and each time you moved on to someone else."

"So what're you saying?" Spike exclaimed. "When I tell a woman I love her, it doesn't mean anything? That I just move on to the next girl? That me loving another girl undermines all the love I gave to those previously?"

"All I can say, Spike, is to live in the moment. Hell, that's what K does, and that's what sets her apart from everyone else. I can see it. And the thing with you and romance, Spike… God, you are so unpredictable. For all I know, next week you'll fall in love with another new Slayer. Or maybe you'll go gay or something."

Spike opened his mouth to protest, but then closed it, thinking on Angel's words. "Live in the moment, huh? I could probably do that."

"Now. Think about right now, this very moment. Forget about anything that happened in the past, or anything that might happen in the future. What d'you feel?"

"I love her," Spike said simply. "I think she's okay, I like her, I love her, and I more than love her. Right now. Also, right now, you're being a bit of a prick. Thanks, though."

Angel shook his head slowly. "Let's just go help out the Slayers."

"So if I really told you that I was still in love with Buffy, you would've staked me?"

"Faster than you can say, 'please, no!'"

Meanwhile, while trying to stop her tears, K went down to face the other slayers who were packing for the trip.

"Hey, K," Willow greeted her. "Since there are only four vamp nests, Buffy decided that she's going to keep the army small. And our small army is going to take out all four of the nests. While other Slayers across the country take care of other nests. Hey, are you crying?"

"No," K said firmly, rubbing her eyes again. "Of course not. Why would I be crying?"

"Well, maybe because Buffy didn't want you to be a part of our army," Willow said. "Satsu talked to her, though, and she's letting you come."

"I knew Buffy never really liked me," K said, steadying her voice now. "But that's no reason for me to cry like a sissy."

"Then… do you want to tell me why you're crying?"

"It's not a big deal. I shouldn't even be crying. It's just… things with Spike… I know he still loves Buffy, but—"

"No, he doesn't," Buffy said, coming from behind Willow.

"What?"

"He doesn't love me," Buffy said. "When I talked to him the day he got back… I told him I loved him. That I would leave Angel if that's what he really wanted."

"Buffy…" Willow said softly.

"He doesn't love me," Buffy repeated. "So you go do whatever the hell you want with him."

Angel and Spike were walking together, entering the lobby.

"You ladies ready?" Angel asked, cutting past K and Willow. He put his arms around Buffy and kissed her forehead.

"Yeah. I was just about to ask K to help me load up the slayer weapons." Buffy gave K a look.

"K, listen, I want to talk to you—" Spike started, but K interrupted him.

"I want to talk to you, too, Spike. But not right now. Right when we have time, okay?"

She walked off with Buffy, helping her lift the large trunk of weapons into the van they would be driving to New York.

K and Buffy put the weapons in the trunk.

"So who's coming on this mission?" K asked. "Ma'am," she added quickly. She didn't want Buffy to hate her even more.

"You, me, Willow, Kennedy, Satsu, Angel, and Spike," she answered.

"You didn't want me to come," K said quietly.

"Don't take it the wrong way," Buffy said, not looking K directly in the eyes. "You're just different. I didn't want to… risk anything."

"Right," K nodded. "Different."

The rest of the team walked outside, and began to get in the van.

"Angel, you drive," Buffy said. "I'll sit at shotgun. Willow, Kennedy, and Satsu, you three take these seats in the middle… Spike and… Spike and K, you two sit together at the back."

"Yes, ma'am," K said, smiling. She was glad. This practically gave her approval.

They sat in their seats, buckled in, and ready to go. Angel hit the gas, and they were off to New York.


	5. To the First Nest

**Author's Notes:**

So I think you understand at this point that Joss Whedon owns all this (except for K), and not me. I'm not as brilliant as him. This was originally supposed to be two chapters, but it seemed choppy, so I just put them together as one, very long chapter.

**Vamp Nest #1**

"I find it bleeding hilarious how our captain decided to put the three lesbians in the middle seat together," Spike commented.

Willow turned around and smiled. "Oh, please. She was trying to get you two together. And, granted, as far away from her as possible."

"Do you want to talk now?" Spike said quietly so only K could hear.

She shook her head, not looking at him directly. "No. Too many people, they're all too close. And honestly, Spike, I'm just tired. And… my head hurts."

Spike nodded. "I understand, pet. Maybe you should just sleep until we get to New York. It's going to be a while."

"How long?" K asked.

"Hey! Girls up front!" Spike called to the rest of the van. "How long is this road trip planning to be?"

"We should be there tomorrow evening," Buffy answered. And quiet down, some of us are trying to sleep."

"Sorry," Spike said. He turned back to K. "I say you get some rest, Pet."

K pulled her legs onto the seat, and pushed herself into Spike, resting her head where his heart was. He raised his arms, using one to wrap around her waist like a second seatbelt, and using the other to stroke through her hair.

She sighed with pleasure, closing her eyes.

"It's all going to be okay now," Spike whispered in her ear as she fell soundly asleep.

**To the First Nest**

K blinked a few times and then woke up. The car was dark, with all the windows blacked out. Obviously, it was morning. K looked up to see Spike, completely asleep. Kennedy was driving the car now, with Angel sitting next to Willow in the middle seat. He was asleep, too.

"Hmm?" K groaned, sitting up. Spike shifted positions, but didn't move.

"Oh, hey," Willow said, looking back. "You're awake. Good. Eat this." She handed her a banana.

"A banana?" K said, accepting it. She peeled it, and took a bite.

"Yeah. It's either a banana or blood. Your choice."

K laughed, almost spitting the banana out of her mouth. She swallowed it. "Thanks, Willow. I'm not craving blood right now."

"We're going to be at the hotel in about an hour," Buffy said. "We'll be staying there incognito until our mission is over."

"Hopefully we'll get a real meal over there," Satsu said, biting into her banana.

K touched the blacked-out window of the car. She looked at it, looked at Spike, and then back at the window. "I really wish I could open this," she said. "Watch the scenery go by."

"Yeah, and our Vampires burst into flames," Satsu said bluntly.

"Hm. I'll just read a book, then."

"Or we could play a game?" Willow suggested hopefully. "I'm getting kind of bored here, too."

"A game?" Buffy repeated.

"Yeah. Just us girls. Since, y'know, Angel and Spike do that whole sleep during the day thing. Uhh. How about truth or dare?"

"All right," K said, smiling. "Sounds like fun. Willow, truth or dare?"

"Umm. Dare."

"I dare you to drink a sip of the blood," Satsu said.

"Ew! It's pig's blood! Are you serious? Oh, well, I guess I chose dare." Willow opened the plastic bag in one corner, and quickly dipped a few drops of the blood into her mouth. She shivered. "Okay. Note to self: do not choose dare in front of Satsu."

Kennedy and Buffy laughed.

"Now it's my turn," Willow said. "Uh, Kennedy! Truth or dare?"

"Truth. I can't do too many dares since I'm driving."

"How many boyfriends and girlfriends have you had?" Satsu asked.

"Seven boyfriends, and eight girlfriends."

"Wow," Satsu said, eyebrows raised. "Okay, now you ask someone."

"I'm going to ask you, Satsu," Kennedy said, laughing. "You're coming up with all the dares and the questions, so let's give someone else a chance. Truth or dare?"

"I'll go with truth."

"Hm. How many girls have you had sex with?" Buffy asked. She had always been curious, but never bothered to ask her.

"Two," Satsu said. "I'm not like Kennedy."

Kennedy laughed, and then focused on the road again.

"All right, then. K. Truth or dare?"

"I'll be a wuss and go with truth," K said softly.

"Hmmm," Satsu said, obviously deep in thought. "I heard you're a writer, right? So tell us a story. Your story. Oh! A story about your life. Your love life. There, specific enough?"

K chuckled nervously. "Heh… a story?"

Willow and Satsu completely turned around in their seats, and Buffy leaned in closer.

"'Kay. Well… my love life started around three years ago. I was sixteen. I was in high school, of course, and I had just finished my SATs, so I could finally start concentrating on stuff that wasn't academic. One of my best friends whom I had known for three years came up to me and asked me out on a date. I was a bit shocked. Like, we have been friends for so long, I didn't expect him to like me in that way. But I said yes, because I thought I'd give it a shot. And… well, we kept going out. Then we were dating. Then we were boyfriend and girlfriend. And before I knew it we were lovers. We took our relationship slow. Like, really slow. It took us over a year to just admit that we loved each other. And we had some other friends who got together, and they lost their virginity to each other after about three months of being together.

"So after three years of being together, we were hopelessly in love. It was true love, too. Every time I was in his arms, nothing in the world could touch me. Every time we kissed, I felt like nothing else mattered. Everyone else could die for all I cared, as long as we could just be together forever. And, well, after so long of being in a relationship with him, of course we did lots of things physically. But I kept my virginity, and I'm still sort of proud of that.

"Just a few months ago, we talked. He told me he didn't love me any more. I asked him why, and he said we just… grew apart. A few days after he broke up with me he lost his virginity to one of our friends. I mean, you can only imagine how devastated I was. I had been in love with him for three years, and he just… left.

"After this, I decided that I would change my view on life. You know, most of my life I was a pessimist. It wasn't until recently I decided to change my whole mind set. Now if you show me that damn glass, I'll tell you, 'hell yeah it's half empty, but at least the other half is full. And that's a lot more than some other people get. And so what if it's half empty? I'll just get off my ass and fill the other half myself.' And that's how I live life now. I guess it was a good change.

"And before I knew it, I was a Slayer. I thought to myself what a perfect opportunity it would be for me to start over, clean slate. A new life. I came down here, and… well… this is truth, after all, so I might as well cover the whole story. I came down here and met Spike. When I woke up in the hospital, and we just talked, and that's when I realized… this is my life now. He is my life now. And… I sorta kissed him. It was completely unintentional, though, I didn't mean to. It just happened. And I really liked him at that point. And then we were together that night… and we were on the table… and just the way we moved, I fell in lo—"

"Wait, so you didn't have sex with your ex-lover for three years, but you have sex with Spike after a day of knowing him?" Buffy asked.

"Sex with Spike? Oh! On the table… we didn't have sex, we danced."

"Danced?"

"Yes. Waltz to be specific. He's very good, and I was surprised that he actually agreed to do it with me. And I guess that's what made me fall in love with him. And then time went by, and it was around the day of the party that I realized that I couldn't _just _be in love with Spike. I mean, whatever I was feeling towards Spike was a million times stronger than anything I've ever felt towards my ex-lover. So that's when I decided it was more than love."

"Aww. A sad story with a happy ending," Willow said.

"A happy ending with Spike," Kennedy commented, laughing.

"I don't think it's funny!" Willow said. "It's kind of cute. And stuff."

K's cheeks were completely flushed at this point, and she really didn't want to say anything else.

"K, you've got to ask Buffy truth or dare," Satsu said.

"Huh? Buffy?" K said, flustering her words.

"Yeah, she's the last one."

"Oh. Um. Okay," K said, unusually quiet. She was never quiet, she was always the loudest person there. "Buffy, truth or dare?"

"Hm. I'll go with dare. Don't feel like doing as much talking."

"Put your hand down Angel's pants!" Kennedy said a bit too loud.

Both Angel and Spike shifted in their seats.

Satsu was using every bit of will power not to burst out laughing.

"I would fulfill your dare, Kennedy, but it's a bit hard since he's in the middle seat and I'm in the front seat," Buffy looked at Angel and smiled to herself. "Tonight, though, I promise."

"Ooooh!" Satsu laughed. Even K managed a smile.

The girls continued playing Truth or Dare, but K politely asked to leave her out of it.

"It's not that I've got things to hide or I'm a coward or anything," she explained. "I just really have to get to the next chapter in my book."

So the girls continued, giggling quietly to make sure not to awaken the sleeping vampires, and K continued to silently read her book.

"And… the sun has officially gone down!" Kennedy remarked.

"Oh, finally," K said, opening the windows and letting the cool night breeze flow into the car.

"Angel, Spike, wake up!" Buffy said. "Don't worry, the big bad sun is gone. We're going to be at the hotel soon."

The two vampires groaned as if they were being woken up for their first day back at school.

"Bloody hell," Spike said, rubbing his head. "I don't usually have dreams, but I just did, and it was damn right weird."

"What did you dream about?" K asked with a large smile on her face.

"Uh… I was with Dru," Spike said hesitantly.

"You were with Drusilla?"

"Yeah. Wasn't a pleasant dream. Bitch was torturing me. It was bloody awful."

"I just scored the best parking spot in the lot," Kennedy said as the van slowly came to a stop.

Everyone jumped out of the van. Buffy and Kennedy carried the weapons bag as Willow grabbed the large bag of bananas and blood. Everyone else carried their own bags, but Spike offered to carry K's bag for her.

"We reserved two rooms," Buffy said to the man at the counter. "Buffy Summers."

The man clacked at his computer. "Ah, yes. The Summers party." He handed her two room keys. "You'll be staying on the seventh floor. May we take your bags?"

"No, it's okay, we've got the bags ourselves. Thanks."

Buffy turned away from the man and faced everyone. "So we've got seven people and two rooms. How are we going to split this up without having someone dead by the end of our stay?"

"I don't think we should put Spike and Angel in the same room," Kennedy suggested. "And I want to be with Willow!"

"I don't really have a preference," Satsu said dryly.

K wanted to say she didn't have a preference, either, just to make it easier on Buffy. But she didn't want to lie, because she really wanted to be with Spike.

"The only way this is going to work," Angel started, "is if you, me, Willow, and Kennedy are in one room, and Satsu, K, and Spike are in the other."

"For once you're using your brain, Captain Forehead," Spike said.

Angel glared at him.

"We have that door in between the rooms, right?" Willow asked. "Y'know, so we can go back and forth between the rooms. So it's kind of like we have one big room anyway."

"Yes, and the wall is thin so we'll be able to hear any noises that are in the other room," Kennedy said, clearly referring to Spike and K.

K looked down at her feet.

"Well, then," Spike said loudly, breaking the tension. "I don't know about you all, but I could right go for a meal right now."

"I heard the lounge here is pretty amazing," Satsu said. "They have great food, and a singer who was really popular in Las Vegas, but he came up here to New York after a long break from singing."

"How do you know all this?" Willow asked.

"It's on the flier that's behind your head," Satsu answered.

"Oh," Willow said, turning around. "Awesome. I say we go there for tonight."

"Hold on a sec," Angel said, grabbing the flier to get a closer look at it. Suddenly, he burst out laughing.

"Buffy, I think your boyfriend's gone insane," Kennedy whispered loudly.

"No!" Angel said, jabbing his finger at the flier. "I know him! He was part of my team, from when I lived in LA."

"You had a singer on your detective team?" Willow asked.

"He's a Pylean Deathwok Demon," Angel said. "And he was one of my good friends. Except for when he made me sing."

"You had a Pylean Deathwok Demon make you sing?" Kennedy asked.

"Yeah. See, his name is Lorne, and he came from Pylea, which is like a hell dimension. And then he stayed here, and learned about music, loved the place, and started a karaoke bar. And you see, he can perceive auras and read a person's destiny when they sing. So, on numerous occasions, when I didn't know what I was supposed to be doing, I'd have to sing for him to read my destiny."

Buffy tried hard not to laugh. "I'm sorry, baby, I just cannot picture you singing."

"Yeah, it was pretty bad."

"This sounds like fun!" Willow said, taking the flier from Angel. "We'll get a nice meal, and we'll get to see Angel's friend again."

So their plans for tonight were decided. They quickly stopped by their room to put away the weapons and blood, and went to the lounge and were seated by a waiter, who gave them menus.

"When is Lorne's show going to go on?" Angel asked.

"Lorne's final show ended around ten minutes ago," the waiter said.

"Oh. You see, I'm an old friend, and I was hoping to see him."

"He's in the kitchen right now," the waiter said. "If you would give me your name, sir, I'll ask him if he wants to come out."

"Tell him Angel is here."

"Of course. I'll be right back, sir. And if you have your orders ready at that point, I can take them."

Everyone opened his or her menu and began to flip through it to see what to get.

"I'm not very hungry," K said, closing her menu.

"What d'you mean?" Spike said. "You haven't eaten all day. Here, I'll get something, and you can share off of mine."

"Okay," K said quietly.

Spike leaned in and lowered his voice. "D'you want to talk, Pet? About what we were discussing in the training room? Because I've been doing some thinking, and there are some things I've really got to say to—"

"I know," K said, just as quietly. "I want to say some things, too. I don't know how to say them, but… can we not talk about it now? We're kind of in front of everybody, and…"

"Right," Spike sighed. "Don't worry about it. We'll talk."

"Angel!" called a voice. The waiter had returned, and beside him was a demon with green-splotched skin and horns sticking from his forehead. His smile seemed friendly and his eyes were full of life.

"Lorne," Angel said, standing up and giving him a pat on the back. "It's so great to see you."

"It's great to see you, too, big guy!" Lorne said. "Jeremy, all of their meals are on the house," he told the waiter.

"You have to join us," Angel said.

"Oh, of course!" Lorne said, pulling up a chair.

Everyone told his or her order to the waiter, and he left.

"So how have you been, Angel? God, it's been way too long."

"Things have been really great lately," Angel said. "And things seem good for you, too. No destiny stealing gigs here, I presume?"

Lorne laughed. "Good times. So who's your posse?"

"Actually, it's not really my posse," Angel explained. "It's Buffy's posse."

"Buffy!" Lorne exclaimed, looking at her. "So this is the famous Buffy! The Vampire Slayer! Oh, goodness, I've heard so much about you."

Buffy smiled. "It's nice to meet you."

"Oh, and she's not _the _Vampire Slayer any more," Kennedy said.

"Right, right. I've heard about that. So I'm guessing this is a Slayer army right here. Oh, and Spike! I barely noticed you."

"Yeah," Spike said. He didn't seem particularly fond of humans.

"I'm not a Slayer," Willow said.

"Uh, right. Introductions, maybe," Angel said. "Buffy, of course. And you know Spike. Next to him is K. And then Willow and Kennedy and Satsu."

"Well, it's so great to meet all of you lovely ladies."

Before long, their dinner had arrived. Everyone seemed to eat an unreasonably large amount of food except for K, who only picked a few small pieces of chicken from Spike's plate.

"Well, I've had way too much fun tonight," Lorne said, taking a sip of champagne. "I really should get to bed. I've got three more shows tomorrow. Oh, I'm here on the sixth floor of the hotel, so if you ever want to see me, stop by room 623, all right?"

"It was so great meeting you," Buffy said.

"You, too, ladies. Take care." Lorne got up and left, humming a song to the beat of his steps.

"We should sleep soon, too. We've got a big day tomorrow," Buffy said. "I'm not sure whether we're going to hit the first vamp nest in the morning, or in the night. In the morning, we've got the advantage of the sun being up. No place for the vampires to run. But we've got the disadvantage of losing two of our strongest fighters."

"I say we just do it in the morning," Spike said. "Bloody hell, Angel and I can handle a bit of sun. You don't have to worry about us."

"You're sure?" Buffy asked, looking at Angel.

"Oh, absolutely. I mean, we're fighting vampires. They can't go into the sun, so we won't have to go into the sun to kill them."

"All right. Tomorrow morning, then. We leave at 9 o'clock."

Everyone agreed, and then went up to the seventh floor.

K, Spike, and Satsu were in room 717 while the rest of them were in 718.

"Ah… of course," Satsu sighed. "Two beds, three people."

Spike approached Satsu and whispered something in her ear.

"Huh? Oh. Yeah, sure, whatever," Satsu said in response. She turned to K. "I'm just going to check on the other room. See how they're doing the sleeping arrangements there."

Satsu left through the door connecting the two rooms, and closed it behind her.

"Care to talk, Pet?" Spike asked.

K sat down on the bed. "I can't… I don't know how to put this into words, how to convince you."

"What the bloody hell are you talking about?" Spike asked, crouching down on the floor in front of her. "I'm the one that needs to convince you. I love you, K. I've learned so much from you, I'm living in the moment. Right now, I think you're okay. I even like you. I love you. And I more-than-love you."

K's lip curled. "I guess you can convince me. I'm trying to convince myself."

Spike sighed. "Love… I didn't sleep at all today."

"Well, if you'd rather sleep than talk, we can talk after the vamp nest tomorrow," K said.

"That's not the point I was trying to make," Spike said, laughing slightly. "I mean, in the car. I didn't sleep. And I heard the story you told everyone else. 'Bout your ex-lover and all."

"You… heard all that?"

"Yeah. And I heard what you said about me, too."

"Oh."

"And I want to tell you, it's the same with me," he said. "I mean, I'm not a virgin, and my ex-lover wasn't exactly a nasty pig like yours, but we've got similar stories, love. What I'm feeling towards you… I call it more than love because it's just stronger, more real, than whatever I felt towards Buffy. And of course Buffy will always be in my heart. Hell, Dru will always be there, too. But not because I love them, just because of what we had. But you, Pet, are the only thing I'm thinking about right now. The only one I'm loving." Spike stood up. "And I want to convince you. And allow you to convince yourself. And… convince myself in the process. This is real, love."

K stood up slowly. "I have an idea," she said. "But you've got to trust me. I want to convince you, and myself, Spike."

"I trust you with my un-life," Spike said, smiling.

K smiled back, and held his hand, pulling him out of the room into the hallway, and towards the stairs.

"Where are we going?" Spike asked.

"I thought you said you trusted me?" K said, opening the door to the sixth floor.

She went down the hallway until she found room 623. She knocked.

Lorne opened the door. His eyes were sleepy, but he smiled. "Hey, little Slayer," he said. "And Spike."

"Hello, Lorne," K said. "I know you don't know me very well, but I was wondering if you could do me… us… a small favor?"

"Well, a friend of Angel's is a friend of mine. What d'ya need, kid?"

"Do you mind if, well, I sing to you?"

"Is that all? Go for it. Knock me out."

"You'll have to excuse my singing voice, I'm not very good." And then she realized she had no idea which song to sing. She decided to go with her favorite band, The Hush Sound. "Send out the morning birds, to sing of the damage. Now that the calm's returned, I know I can't manage," she sang. Her voice was soft, sweet, and melodious. Every note flowed into the next, every sound sounded like sweet honey to the ears. "You're standing in my doorway, though he's asleep in my bed. The steady murmur, always in my head."

"You're the finest thing that I've done," Spike began to sing. "The hurricane I'll never outrun."

K smiled, and they both began to sing together. K went slightly higher than the original song, creating the perfect harmony between their voices. "I could wait around for the dust to still, but I don't believe that it ever will."

The two of them smiled at each other, and then turned to Lorne, who had a large grin on his face.

"Well?" K asked.

"First of all, don't ever say you're a bad singer," he said. "That was absolutely beautiful."

K flushed, and looked down.

"Second, you two are absolutely adorable. I can't believe I'm associating Spike with that word, but it's so true. You two were amazing together. And did you come up with those harmonies on the spot? Kid, you've got talent. You two should start a band or something."

Spike laughed. "What'd the aura say?"

"Aura? Oh, right, of course. Well, the thing is, the aura with you two is exactly the same. So you two will be together, with each other. That's what's written in your destiny. And, honestly, it's not looking bad. It looked like love, but it was a lot stronger than that. In fact, it's making me all giddy and tired. So I hope you two are happy together, but I've really got to get some rest."

K smiled so much her face almost hurt. "Thank you so much, Lorne. We really owe you. Thank you."

"Don't mention it, kid," he said. "Now I need to get to bed. Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Lorne."

He closed the door, and left Spike and K alone in the hallway.

K jumped once on her toes and then hugged Spike. "Okay, I'm officially convinced. Oh, Spike, I love you! I didn't know you knew The Hush Sound!"

Spike laughed. "It's strange, when you're alive as long as I am, you tend to listen to a lot of music."

"Yeah, but even then, not a lot of people have heard of The Hush Sound. They're a pretty indie band."

"Well, I went through a phase of listening to only rock, and then I decided I wanted something a little more poetic. And this band… well, I simply fell in love with them."

As they walked back to their room, they only talked about The Hush Sound.

"Hurricane is one of my favorite songs from them," K said. "And we did sound pretty good together on it, huh?"

They walked into 717, where Satsu was lying down on one of the beds.

"Where were you two?" she asked. "Never mind. I'm tired, and I don't want to hear any sex noises. Also, I've decided I want a bed to myself. You two can have the other one."

"Fine by me," Spike said, lifting K off the ground and placing her softly on the bed before climbing in himself.

Satsu turned off the lights, and K scooted closer to Spike.

"Goodnight," she whispered. "I love you."

"I love you."


	6. The Big Bad Building

**Author's Notes:**

I love Joss Whedon. He came up with all these brilliant characters (except for K) and stuff. Also, I know this isn't the best writing I've done, but I'd appreciate some reviews. Just to let me know people out there are reading my stuff. Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy. Anyway, on with the show!

**The Big Bad Building**

K groaned and turned over in bed.

"Come on, love," Spike said softly, gently putting his hand on her arm. "It's eight thirty. We have to go kill some vamps."

"Meh. Five more minutes," K said, burying her face in Spike's chest.

Spike laughed lightly. "No time for that. Everyone else is already ready to go. We've got to leave soon, Pet."

"Ugh," K groaned again, but she got up nonetheless. "Before I became a Slayer I used to get at least ten hours of sleep every night. This is ridiculous."

"I'm sorry, Pet."

"No, it's not your fault," she said, getting clothes to change into. She went into the bathroom, splashed some water on her face, tied her hair back, and changed out of her sweatpants and into actual clothes.

"Ready, love?" Spike called from outside the bathroom.

"Yeah," she said, opening the door. "Where's Satsu?"

"She's down in the lobby," Spike said. "Everyone's waiting for us."

K's eyes widened. "Everyone is—oh my God, Spike, you should've told me this earlier!" K hated to keep people waiting. She hated disappointing people. She flung herself out the door without a second thought and ran downstairs, completely forgetting that Spike was still behind her. She entered the lobby, where the rest of the gang was waiting for her. She panted, completely out of breath.

Everyone turned to look at her.

"Oh, God," she said quietly to herself. "I'm so sorry that I'm late. I didn't—"

"It's fine, K, we weren't even leaving yet," Willow said, putting her hand on K's shoulder. "We weren't, like, impatiently waiting for you or anything. Buffy said 9, it's only 8:45."

"Oh," K said after a moment of silence. Spike had finally caught up with her.

"Bloody hell," he panted. "Are we going, or what?"

"Well, if everyone is ready, we'll go," Buffy said. She led everyone to the car, and they sat in the same positions as last night.

"So do these vamps live, like, underground or something? Because then it'd be easy to take them all out," Satsu said.

"No," Buffy answered. "It's weird how modernized they are. They actually stay in these huge buildings. It almost looks like—"

"Like a law firm," Angel said.

"Yeah," Buffy said.

They all kept quiet until they arrived at a towering building.

Angel and Spike were first to enter, running as quickly as they could under a blanket so the sun wouldn't burn them.

The girls soon followed. Buffy was carrying a large axe with a stake in her belt. Willow had her magic, of course. Kennedy was carrying a scythe, and Satsu and K were equipped with several stakes.

"So what's the plan?" Satsu whispered.

"Stake anything that moves," Kennedy said.

"Well. Nothing seems to be on the ground floor," Buffy said. "How many floors are there, anyway?"

"Eight," Willow said. "Including this ground floor. So I guess we should each take a floor, clear it out, and come back here."

Buffy nodded.

"We have to go on each floor alone?" Spike asked.

"Shh!" Buffy snapped. "We don't want to attract the vamps. And yes. Can't you handle it?"

Spike quickly glanced at K before turning back to Buffy. "Yeah. Let's go."

Angel and Spike took the second and third floor just so they could avoid being closer to the sun. Buffy took the fourth floor, Kennedy took the fifth floor, Satsu took the sixth floor, K took the seventh floor, and Willow took the eighth floor.

It was an office building. With hallways, rooms, and cubicles. "Why would vampires want to nest here?" K asked herself softly. "And why is this place so big? How many vampires are here?"

There was a growling sound, and K turned around quickly, seeing her first vampire of the building. His dark hair was messy and long, covering most of the bumps on his forehead, but it wasn't long enough to hide his piercing yellow eyes. He was wearing a suit and tie.

K pushed him away from him, which made him angry. She began to throw kicks and punches, doing her dance until finally tiring out the vampire enough to push her wooden stake into his chest, turning him into dust.

"One down," K panted, "a hell of a lot more to go."

Down on the third floor, Spike was fighting off a hoard of vampires. Pushing them off of him in great numbers. There must've been at least seven vamps on him at a time. He was easily able to push them away, though, and his timing with the stake was perfect. He hit them just as they let their guard down for a moment. Though he was fighting off all these vampires, the only thing he worried about was if K was all right several floors above him.

And she was doing all right at this point. Though not staking ten vamps every second, she was able to hold her own, taking her time as she brought down one vampire at a time. She felt kind of stupid, taking her own merry time fighting down a whole hoard of vampires like this. But hey, whatever worked.

She finally caught a break. The vamps weren't coming after her. She hunched over, and panted. "I can't let my guard down." She stood up straight, stake at the ready, stealthily walking down the hallways of the office, looking for any more vampires on her floor.

"I know there are more of you," she said. "It can't be that easy."

She passed by a mirror, which was in one of the cubicles.

"Holy crap," she said, looking into it. She didn't notice how much the vampires had attacked her. Her face was bruised, and she had gotten a cut on her forehead, which bled into her hair and down the side of her face. It only just begun to hurt. She touched it, and looked down at her hand. "Bloody hell," she said quietly. She quickly laughed to herself for starting to talk like Spike. "Oh, God," she said, wiping her hand on her shirt. She didn't even want to see where else she had gotten hurt.

"Mmmmmm. The blood of a Slayer," said a voice behind her. She jumped, and turned around. Another vampire was slowly approaching her. "I've always wanted to try it. I would ask for some help holding you down… but you seem small enough for me to handle. But you did kill off everyone on this floor. Tsk. This place is rather dusty, and _it's all your fault_."

"Are you going to keep talking?" K panted, her stake up. "Or are you going to fight me already?"

The vampire chuckled. "How adorable. You're one of the cutest little humans I've ever seen."

"If you're going to kill me, why don't you just try now?"

"Oh, I like to play with my food. You see, first—"

K was fed up with his talking, so she threw his stake at him, piercing his chest and making him a pile of dust.

"I don't like to play around with my victims," K said, picking up her stake.

She walked around the floor once again, making sure that there were no more vampires. The last one she had killed said that he was the last of them on this floor, and K couldn't find any others. She checked the cubicles, the offices, and even the bathrooms. There were no more vamps on the floor.

"Oh, _God_," K groaned, as she fell to her knees and curled up into a ball on the floor. "_Fuck_," she yelled loudly. All of her wounds and bruises begun to hurt, and each one, though they felt like a tiny poke before, now felt like she was on fire.

She didn't know how long she was curled up in that position, but after a while, the pain wasn't as prominent. She figured it was her Slayer powers healing her. She was able to get up, and she began to walk downstairs to see who had finished and was waiting on the ground floor.

"Hello?" she called to the ground floor. Nothing. It was completely empty. "I couldn't have been the first one done, could I? I can't just stay here. Someone else might need help." K decided to go to the second floor since it was the closest to her.

"Whose floor was this?" she said quietly as she scanned the hallways. "Oh, right. Angel!" she called out. "Angel, are you here?"

She opened the door to one of the offices, finding Angel staking a vampire in the heart.

"Oh, there you are."

"K," he said, slightly surprised to see her. "You were looking for me? Well, I just finished cleaning this floor out."

"Yeah, I finished my floor a little earlier, too," she said. "I came down here to see if you needed any help."

"No, I'm done here. You look really beat up. Are you okay? We should get you back to the van or something."

"I'm fine," K said. "I mean, I think we should go help the others. I know Buffy said to go back down to the ground floor when we were done, but isn't that, like, a waste of time and energy? Let's go another floor up."

"Is the ground floor empty?" Angel asked.

"Yeah, I just checked."

They were climbing up the stairs when K asked, "Who had the third floor?"

"Spike did," Angel answered.

K ran through the hallways and checked the rooms. The floors were covered in vampire dust. "Spike!" she called. "Spike! Spike? Spike!"

There was no answer.

"Calm down, K," Angel told her. "You're acting a bit frantic."

"Spike!" K continued to call. "Spike? Spike!"

"K—"

"Angel, what if they killed him?" K practically screamed, her eyes wide. "What if they got his stake and stabbed him, and what if he's one of these dust piles we're stepping on? Oh, God. Spike? Spike!"

"K—"

"Spike?"

"K!"

"What?"

"Think for a moment. If Spike were dead, there would still be vampires on this floor. I'm sure he killed them and went to another floor."

"What? Oh, God. Spike? Spike!"

"K!" Angel yelled, wrapping his arms around K and pulling her into his chest, practically smothering her. "Please, calm down!"

She began to scream into Angel's leather jacket. Angel couldn't tell if she was just screaming, or if she had begun to cry.

"Shhhhh," Angel said, beginning to stroke her hair with his hand, getting a bit of her blood on it. "Calm down. I'm sure… I'm sure Spike is fine. Let's go up another floor, and we'll try to help out, kill more vampires, and find Spike."

K stopped screaming, but didn't move away from Angel's grasp. She slowly nodded, rubbing her nose on Angel's shirt.

"All right," Angel said softly.

K pulled away from him, rubbing her eyes. "Thank you, Angel," she whispered.

Angel nodded. "Let's go up a floor."

"Who was supposed to be on that floor?" K asked.

"Buffy," Angel said, before pulling K along towards the stairs.

Angel ran ahead this time as they arrived on floor four. Angel froze as soon as he entered a hallway.

"What is it, Angel?"

He inhaled deeply. "I smell… vampires."

K held her stake up.

"And…" Angel continued with another deep breath. "Buffy. She's still here. She's with Spike."

"Spike?" K said a bit too loudly.

"Shh!" Angel spat, but it was already too late. Three vampires had already found them. One of them was carrying Buffy's axe.

"Two more?" the vampire said. Before they began to fight.

K began to fight against the vampire with the axe while Angel began to fight against the other two.

"Another Slayer?" the vampire snarled.

"Yeah," K said, punching him in the face. "And there's a hell of a lot more than us, so you might as well die now."

The vampire swing the axe which hit K squarely in the arm, ripping through her shirt and leaving a deep cut.

"Aah!" K screamed, moving her other hand to her wounded arm. The vampire had turned to dust, and there stood Angel with a stake in his hand.

"Angel," K panted. "I am so sorry. I was completely useless."

"Don't worry about it. You're cut pretty deep. Maybe you should rest."

K shook her head. "N-no… I have to find Spike."

Angel picked up the axe, but didn't argue. "Fine. Let's go. We're safe for now, I don't smell any more vampires on this floor. Well, except for Spike."

"Spike!" K yelled. "Spike? Spike!"

She dragged herself along, panting as she went, searching frantically for the blonde vampire.

She opened one of the office rooms and saw Spike. On his knees, with Buffy lying down on his lap, her eyes closed.

"Spike!" K exclaimed.

"K?" he asked. "Bloody hell… you're a mess. Are you okay?"

"I-I'm okay," she said quietly. "What happened? I-is Buffy…?"

"She's unconscious, love," Spike said. He put his arms under her, and lifted her in one swift motion, her body hanging limply in his arms. "She's not in a good shape. And neither are you, we should get back to the car."

"B-but what about Willow and Kennedy and Satsu?" K asked.

"You're bleeding, K!" Spike exclaimed. "If a vampire attacks you now, you're done for!"

Angel walked up behind K.

"What happened? Why is Buffy—"

"She's unconscious!" Spike repeated. "A vampire knocked her out and took her axe."

"Well, here's the axe," Angel said. "Spike, you take Buffy and K down to the car. I'll take care of the rest."

Spike nodded. "Come on, love, you've got to go."

K reluctantly looked from Spike to Angel, and back to Spike.

"Okay," she said quietly.

Angel left to go up to the next floor, as Spike carried Buffy and supported an unsteady K all the way back to the ground floor.

"K, I can't go out there," Spike said. "Because of the sun."

"Oh, right," K said.

"I'm not sure how to get Buffy back over there," he said. "You're in no state to carry her…"

"I can do it," K said. "With my right arm. Spike, you can't go out into the sun, and Buffy's got to get to the car."

"Love, I don't want your arm to fall off," he said. "I like your arm."

"I can do it, Spike," she said. She showed him her right shoulder. "Just leave her here… it's the only way she'll be safe, Spike. She can't stay in this building. You go help Angel, I can take care of this."

"…All right, Pet," he said, carefully draping Buffy onto K's shoulder.

K used every ounce of her strength she had left not to drop Buffy.

"See?" K groaned. "I can take care of it… just go help Angel. These vampires are tough, and they're going to need as much help as possible. Go!"

Spike nodded. He turned around and left up the stairs and K walked out into the sunlight, into the van. She left Buffy down in the middle seat, and then sat in the driver's seat.

"I-I can't just sit here," K said, putting her head on the steering wheel. She closed her eyes, and the pain from her arm had just hit her. "Aah…"

She heard Buffy groan from the back seat. K shot up, and looked back.

"What… happened?" Buffy asked.

"We both got injured and were sent back to the van," K told her. "You were knocked out by a vampire, and I got sliced by your axe."

"Oh… _oh, _my head…" Buffy said quietly.

"Yeah. Spike was taking care of you, and Angel took care of me. And then we went up to your floor, and Spike told me to bring you here. He couldn't come because of the sun, so I..."

"So… you brought me here?"

"Um, no," K said. "I helped Spike put the blanket on himself. I couldn't lift you. My arm is all…"

"Oh," Buffy said. "But everyone is okay, right?"

"I honestly don't know."

K didn't know why she lied to Buffy. She figured that she didn't want her to be disappointed when she heard that K was the one who helped her.

Buffy sat up, and turned around to look out the back window. "Oh, thank God," she said to herself.

K turned around to see what she saw. The two vampires were running under the blanket, and Willow, Kennedy, and Satsu followed closely behind. They were all rather beaten up, but none of them looked as bad as K or Buffy.

Angel and Spike jumped into the dark van first before the rest of the girls crawled in. K practically jumped off the driver's seat and went to the very back of the van.

"Buffy," Angel said. "You're awake. Good."

"Yeah… I'm all right. What's the status?"

"The whole building is clean."

"Man, those vampires were tough," Kennedy groaned as she took the wheel and started the car.

"Yeah, they were tougher than usual," Satsu said. "And there were a ton of them. And the building was so huge. Thank God we all made it up. We might want to ask for extra help on the next nest. I mean, two of us almost died."

Spike lightly touched K's wound on her left arm.

"Ah!" she said softly. "I… it hurts."

"Sorry, love," Spike said.

"Spike," K said extremely softly. "I lied to Buffy. I told her you carried her here, not me."

"Why did you do that?" Spike asked, his voice just as quiet.

K shrugged one shoulder. "I was just afraid of how she'd react if she knew I helped her. Can you keep it a secret?"

Spike sighed, but nodded. "I'll do anything for you, love."

"Thank you, Spike."

Before too terribly long, they arrived at the hotel. The boys ran under the blanket again as the rest of them came behind them. They took the elevator to the seventh floor, and went into room 718.

"Let's get cleaned up," Buffy said. "We need lots of bandages, and a sling for K. Maybe an ice pack or two."

"I've called room service, and they're sending up all the healing supplies we need," Satsu said.

"Great. Thanks. I'm going to lie down…"

Buffy crawled into bed. Angel sat down next to her and put his hand on her arm.

Once the healing supplies was up, Willow helped K get bandaged and into her sling after she washed all the blood off of her.

"Thanks, Willow," she said, now wearing clean clothes and a sling. "God, I feel so bloody ridiculous in this. It's like I'm restricted."

Willow started giggling.

"What?" K asked.

"You're starting to talk like Spike," she said. "You just said 'bloody'."

K smiled stupidly. "Yeah. I guess. He's just really getting to me, y'know?"

"Well, I think it's adorable," Willow said, putting one last bandage on K. "Well, you're all set. You should really get some rest. You probably had it the hardest today."

"Yeah… I think I'll go to sleep. Goodnight, Willow."

"Goodnight, K."

K went into room 717, leaving the rest of them in 718.

"Hey, Spike?" Buffy said. She was still lying down, her eyes now closed. "Could you do me a favor?"

"What's that?" Spike asked.

"Could you call HQ and ask Xander to come up here?" Buffy asked. "I would do it myself… but, my head is just…"

"Don't worry about it, I'll take care of it," Spike said. And he left to room 717, as well.

"Why'd you ask Spike to do it?" Angel asked Buffy. "I mean, I could've done it."

"Because," Buffy said, pushing herself closer to Angel. "I need you here with me."

Angel rolled his eyes, but smiled.

"God, everywhere I go, I'm surrounded by couples," Satsu complained. "In here there's Angel and Buffy, and Willow and Kennedy. And then I go in there, and there's Spike and K."

"I'm hungry," Kennedy said.

Willow smiled and stroked her hair. "I'm a little peck-ish, too," she said. "D'you want to go down to the lounge and grab a bite, baby?"

"Yeah," Kennedy said, standing up with Willow. "It's not even that late right now. But let's go."

"Hey, take me with you," Satsu said. "I'd rather be the third wheel with you two than with Angel and Buffy."

So the three of them left as Angel and Buffy continued to cuddle in bed together.


	7. Buffy's Secret

**Author's Notes:**

I don't own any of this (except for K) and Joss Whedon is a bloody genius, go worship him. I would appreciate your feedback, I just want to know people out there are reading my stuff. Makes me happy!

**Buffy's Secret**

Buffy was snuggled up close into Angel's arms. Perfectly comfortable and content, something seemed to be poking the inside of her brain. Something left her with the feeling that something just wasn't right.

"Angel?" Buffy said quietly. "Are we alone in the room right now."

Angel looked up, and then back down at Buffy. "Yeah, we are."

"Can I ask you something?"

"You can ask me anything, Buffy."

"What exactly went on between you and K in the building today?"

Angel frowned. "I could ask you what happened between you and Spike."

"Do you really want to know?"

"Yeah, I kind of do."

"Well, he came up to the fourth floor. He had told me he cleared out his floor, and thought I could use some help. We fought some vampires side by side, and I guess after a few of them, that's when I got knocked out. So I don't really remember what went on."

"Well, something similar happened with K and me," he said. "She finished her floor, so she came down to mine—"

"She went from the seventh floor to the second floor?"

"I don't know why," Angel said. "She must've had a reason. Maybe she went down to the ground floor because that was your original order, and then she realized no one was there, so she came up to my floor. Make sense?"

"A little," Buffy said, not wanting to admit that that's probably what happened. "Then what?"

"She came up as I was staking my last vampire. We decided to go up another floor, which was Spike's floor, and it was empty. She had jumped to the conclusion that Spike had died. She was completely freaking out, I had to calm her down."

"How did you calm her down?"

"Well, I couldn't get a single word in by just talking to her," Angel explained. "What with her constant screaming of Spike's name. So I pulled her towards me and sort of stopped her from screaming by holding her into me. She calmed down, and I told her Spike must've gone to a different floor."

"I see," Buffy said. "Then?"

"Then we came up, found Spike and you unconscious, and she left with Spike so you two could go to the van."

"And Spike carried me into the van?"

"Well, he must have. I mean, K has that nasty wound on her arm."

"Hm," Buffy said in agreement, not wanting to nod her head. "And what do you think of her?"

"Buffy… what do you think of her?"

Buffy pouted. "I asked you first."

Angel sighed. "I like her. She's pretty cute, and she's a good fighter, and she's got a good heart. She's a bit different, sometimes moody, but I like her."

Buffy frowned even more. "She's kind of weird, don't you think? And she does these random things. And she is moody. And she doesn't think right. And everyone seems to like her, I just don't really understand why."

"Buffy, I'm starting to think you're a bit jealous of her."

"Jealous?" Buffy repeated. She scoffed. "Why would I be jealous of her?"

"Well, everyone who has ever loved you seems to be moving on to her," Angel said. "Even I can't really say why. But it just so happens to be like that. And I think you asked me what happened with us because you might be a little nervous the same thing happened to me."

"That's crazy, Angel," Buffy said, snuggling up closer to him.

"Maybe, but you're not denying it," he said.

"I am not jealous of her," Buffy said firmly.

"Whatever you say. Let's just go to sleep."

Buffy scooted herself closer to Angel and lost herself in his arms. Though her eyes were closed, and her head was pounding, she couldn't fall asleep. Something just wasn't right.

"Angel?" Buffy said quietly. "Are you awake?"

He didn't answer.

"Well, I'm glad you're asleep," Buffy said, opening her eyes, and pulling herself away from Angel's grasp. She sat up, and then got out of bed. She looked around the room, making sure it was empty. She opened the door to the other room where she saw K, fast asleep, and Spike, on the other bed with a book in his hand.

"Spike?" Buffy called. "I thought you were asleep."

Spike looked away from the book. "Nope. Not quite tired yet. But I thought you were sleeping."

"Uh," Buffy said, trying to come up with an excuse. "I wanted to make sure that you had called Xander."

"He said he'll be leaving as soon as possible. He'll probably get here by tomorrow night."

"Great," Buffy said. "So you're okay here in this room?"

"Well, it's as good as it's ever gonna get," Spike scoffed.

"Right," Buffy said, nodding. "I'll probably just go back to sleep, then."

"'Night, love."

Buffy closed the door and sat down on Willow and Kennedy's bed, picking up Willow's bag, going through it.

"Where is it?" Buffy whispered to herself. She had to be quieter if she didn't want to wake up Angel. "Aha!" Buffy pulled out a book from Willow's bag with the title _Demons: Volume IV_.

Buffy flipped through it until she found what she was looking for.

"Lavo… contamino… caput…" Buffy read from the page. "This demon can assume the form of any being, human or demon. Its physical strength is powerful, but not as strong as most supernatural entities, thus it uses the power of brainwashing to keep itself safe. Usually with a single motive, it can make any human or demon obey its wish by simply touching them." Buffy closed the book and put it back into Willow's bag. "A mind control demon? Possibly. But something isn't right."

Buffy decided there was nothing she could do at this point anyway, so she went back into bed with Angel, and forced herself to fall asleep.


	8. Day Break

**Author's Notes:**

All these lovely and brilliant characters belong to Joss Whedon (except for K) and we should all go worship him. But first, I'd appreciate some reviews and such, maybe for criticism and I would like to know people are actually reading what I dish out. Thanks!

**Day Break**

K woke up the next day, this time earlier than anyone else. Spike wasn't in the room, and Satsu was fast asleep in the other bed. She got up, tied her hair back, splashed her face with some water, and changed her clothes.

She quietly opened the door to room 718, and peered in. Kennedy and Willow were cuddled up into each other, fast asleep. Buffy was also sleeping alone in the other bed. K figured that Angel and Spike were doing some vampire-related thing together.

Spike and Angel were outside of the hotel, behind the building where the sun couldn't reach them. Spike had his eyes closed, with a cigarette in his mouth as Angel leaned against the wall and watched him.

"I've got an idea, Spike," Angel started to say.

Spike slid down the wall and sat down with one leg extended, with his other knee close to his chest. "Yeah? And what's that, Captain Forehead?"

"I think you should leave."

Spike opened his eyes, raised one eyebrow, and pulled the cigarette out of his mouth. "Leave?" Spike asked.

"Yeah," Angel said. "You've spent all this time away from anything that has to do with Slayers, and then you show up and you're suddenly part of the team?"

"Is this about Buffy?" Spike asked.

Angel sighed.

"Listen, you pounce, I've moved on from Buffy. Sure, she'll always have a place in my heart, but at the moment, it doesn't mean anything. I'm with K now, and it's strong. It's like I've been brainwashed or something."

"She's the only reason you're staying," Angel said.

"Well, yeah. I didn't want to come on your little vamp hunt, but I wanted to make sure she was okay."

"Then leave with her."

Spike raised one eyebrow again.

"Take her somewhere. I'm trying to make this as romantic-sounding as possible. Run away with her."

"Why? Can't I stay here? Help fight for the noble cause or something like that?"

"I just think the two of you should be as far away from Buffy as possible."

"Again, I ask why?"

"I think Buffy is jealous of K. I know she doesn't like her, but I'm not sure why. Every person who has ever loved Buffy has fallen in love with K. Well, besides me. But I don't think K is going to be happy around Buffy."

"I don't see why Buffy has any reason to be jealous. I mean, she's got you."

Angel glared at Spike.

"Oh," Spike said after a moment. "I see. You don't want K around so Buffy can't be jealous, and she'll focus more on you."

"Spike…"

"Fine," Spike said, flicking his cigarette butt away. "I'll go. I'll take her away. But after this whole vampire episode."

"Spike—"

"We'll stay until the end of this," Spike said. "Then I promise I'll leave."

Angel nodded. "Fine."

Spike stood up. "Well, now that we've come to that little agreement, I say we get back inside before everyone else wakes up."

"Okay, let's go."

They went back to the seventh floor of the hotel and entered room 717.

K was lying on her stomach on the bed with her book in her hand.

"You're awake," Spike said.

"Oh, there you are!" K closed her book and jumped up. "I woke up, and you weren't there. I checked the other room, and Angel wasn't there, either, so I figured you two were off doing vampire-ish things together or something like that." K shrugged. "I don't know what vampires do in their spare time."

"We were just out for some fresh air," Angel said. He left for room 718.

"How are you doing?" Spike said, pointing to his arm and his head.

"Oh, you mean this?" K said, gesturing her sling. "It doesn't hurt so much any more. The whole being a Slayer thing means I heal faster than normal. I should be out of this sling in a couple of days or so."

Spike nodded. "I can't stand to see you hurt, Pet."

"I just can't stand being useless. If we go to the next vamp nest, I'll probably need to have someone with me, so what's the point of me being there at all?"

"You're strong, love," Spike said. "And I know you can do it."

K smiled at him.

"Urngh," Satsu groaned from her bed. "Would you two keep it down? You can be all cute in the other room, you know?"

"You might as well get up now, Satsu," K said. "I'm not sure when you went to sleep, but it's almost noon."

Satsu sat up and rubbed her eyes. "Fine," she groaned again. She pulled herself out of bed and dragged herself to the bathroom.

"I'm sure Angel woke up everyone else in the other room," K said. "Let's go check."

Spike and K went into the other room, where Buffy was now awake and Willow was trying to wake Kennedy up.

"Kennedy," Willow said, nudging her gently. "Wake up. You're the last one to get up."

Kennedy turned over in bed, pulled the covers over her head, and groaned loudly.

K pulled the covers off. "C'mon, Kennedy," she said, helping Willow nudge her. "Everyone else is up."

Kennedy sat up much like Satsu did. "Fine. I'm up. God."

"Thanks, K," Willow said, patting her gently on her arm.

"No problem, Will," she said.

Buffy's eyes widened for a moment, but then she calmed down. "I'll be in the bathroom," Buffy said. She got up and left the rest of them alone.

"She's been a little out of it lately, hasn't she?" Willow asked.

"A little," Angel said. "But I don't think it'll last long."

Angel was looking directly at Spike.

"So no vamp killing today?" Spike said.

Willow shook her head. "Buffy said we're going to wait for Xander to get here. It was hard last time, so she said we'll need the extra help."

K nodded. "Makes sense. Plus, I think some of us need to heal up a bit before we go into the slaying again." K looked down at the floor.

Willow put her hand on her arm. "Hey. Don't worry about it. You'll be in Slayer mode again by tomorrow."

K sighed, but smiled at Willow.

"So we're just going to sit around here and do nothing today?" Spike spat.

"Unfortunately."

"Bugger that. We're wasting time."

"There's nothing we can do, Spike."

Spike ignored the rest of them, went into room 717 as Satsu came into room 718.

"Why did you wake me up when we're not even doing anything today?" Satsu asked.

"Fine, go back to sleep if you want!" Willow said.

"Thank you!" Kennedy said as she fell back into bed.

"Well, if everyone just wants to laze around and sleep all day… fine! K, why don't you and I go out and do something today?"

"Huh? You want to go out and do something with me?" K asked, slightly shocked. "Well, I'm fine with that if no one else minds. I'll go ask Spike, since, y'know, he can't exactly come along in the sunlight."

K left to see Spike flipping through her book on the bed.

"Spike?" K called. "Willow wanted me to go out with her today, and I just wanted to let you know."

"Why d'you need to tell me?" Spike asked.

"W-well, y'know, you kind of can't come into the sun. And I just wanted to make sure you knew."

"Oh," Spike said. He nodded. "Okay. Have fun."

K smiled just before going back to Willow.

"You're going out?" Buffy asked Willow. "With K?"

"Yeah. Do you want to come with?"

Buffy looked at K, and then back at Willow. "No, it's okay. I've got a little bit of research to before Xander gets here."

"Oh! Does it have to do with our vampires? Can I help?"

"Um, just a little bit. And it's okay, I can handle this one. You go ahead and have fun today."

"Are you sure, Buffy?"

"Positive. I'll fill you in on the situation once I know exactly what's going on."

"All right, then." Willow turned around. "Are you ready to go, K?"

"Oh, yeah, totally," she answered. "Buffy… are you sure you don't need any help with whatever you're researching?"

"I'm sure," Buffy said a little bit too quickly. "You two go ahead."

"All right. C'mon, K," Willow beckoned.

The two of them left the building and started to walk down the street.

"Where are we going?" K asked.

"I'm not sure. But it seems like a waste to come to New York City and not wander around the streets for the hell of it. We can stop by somewhere and grab something to eat or something. If we see anything good, we'll just stop."

They walked for another minute or so before K spoke up again.

"Will, why d'you think Buffy hates me so much?" K asked. "I mean, maybe not hate. That's a bit strong. But I know she doesn't exactly like me."

"Sometimes, I don't really know why," Willow answered. "Sometimes she seems a little, I dunno, jealous of you."

K laughed. "Jealous? Buffy jealous of me? Are you kidding me? What on earth do I have that Buffy could possibly be jealous of?"

"If you've noticed, everyone that has loved Buffy but got rejected by her has moved on to you. Like Satsu and Spike."

"But she has Angel," K said, more to herself than to Willow. "What if she thinks I'm trying to take Angel away from her, too? Oh, God, that must be why she hates me so much."

"No! Well, actually, I don't know. I wish I could tell you, but I don't really know what Buffy thinks."

"Yeah. I just wish I knew why she didn't like me so I could make it better."

"You don't really seem like the kind of person to care what people think of you. I mean, you dance on tables."

"I don't," K said. "People can think whatever they want, whether it's about me or not. But… I don't know, sometimes it just bothers me, I guess. Like, with Buffy. I care about her, and I don't know what I did wrong to hurt her, and I just want to make it right."

"Don't worry," Willow said, putting her hand on K's shoulder. "Buffy will come around eventually."

"I hope so," K said. "Hey, that Chinese place looks nice."

"It does. Let's go."

Back at the hotel, Buffy was doing more research on Willow's laptop about demons that brainwash other beings. She learned that these demons can keep a hold on their brainwash victims telepathically, but to have them completely in their control, they must at least touch their victims.

"Hey," Angel said.

Buffy quickly closed the laptop, hiding anything that she was doing. "Hi."

"What are you up to?" Angel asked, putting his arm around Buffy's waist. "Looking up dirty things you don't want anyone to see?"

Buffy chuckled. "I was just doing a little research."

"I think you need a break," Angel said, just before kissing her.

"Angel," Buffy said quietly.

"Shhh," Angel said. He kissed her again. The laptop fell to the ground and opened as Buffy lied back with Angel leaning forward. He kissed her again and again before slowly moving his lips down, now kissing her neck.

"Mmm… Angel…"

Angel adjusted so that one of Buffy's legs was in between his, and he moved his hands down her torso, continuing to kiss her.

"Angel," Buffy said again, lifting his chin with her hand.

"Buffy," he said just as quietly.

"Maybe we shouldn't do this now," she said.

Angel furrowed his eyebrows. "Is there something wrong?"

"N-no," Buffy said. She sat up straight. "I should just really get back to the research I was doing."

Angel looked down at the laptop. "Why are you researching brainwashing demons?"

"Um…"

He picked up the laptop and began to read what Buffy was looking up. "Does this have anything to do with our mission now?"

"Kind of," Buffy said, snatching the laptop out of Angel's hands. "Angel… I'm sorry, I'm just not in the mood right now. And I've got this headache still, and…"

"Don't worry about it," Angel said, standing up. "I'll get you some painkillers."

"And a cup of warm water?"

"Sure," Angel said.

"Thanks."


	9. Break of Dawn

**Author's Notes:**

All hail Joss Whedon, the brilliant mind who came up with all this (except for K). Some feedback would be wonderfully appreciated and will make me all warm and fuzzy inside.

**Break of Dawn**

Willow and K came back to the hotel as the sun was setting, which just so happened to be when Spike left. Angel had informed K that he wanted to get out of the hotel as soon as the sunset.

"Damn, I wish I could catch up with him," K said.

The whole gang was hanging out in room 718. Buffy was curled up in a little ball in Angel's arms, and the rest of them were either sitting on the other bed or on the floor.

Suddenly, someone knocked on the door.

Satsu got up and opened it.

"Hey, gang," Xander said.

"Oh, Xander! It's a good thing you're here," Buffy said, straightening up. "We're going into the second vamp nest tomorrow, and we could really use your help."

"Oooh! Vampires! Can I come?" Dawn asked.

Buffy's jaw dropped. "You brought Dawn?"

"She kind of brought herself," Xander explained. "I really couldn't say no to her."

"C'mon, Buffy, I could really help out with these vampires. You said you needed help, and it's not like I was doing anything, so why not?"

"This is insane. We only have two rooms in this hotel."

"Don't worry. Dawn and I got another room one floor up."

"You got another room? Well, then take one person with you. We've got nine people now, and three per room will be just perfect."

"So who's coming up with us?"

"I don't mind going up," K offered. She figured that with three people per room two of the couples would have to be broken up anyway, so she decided to offer.

"No!" Buffy said rather quickly. "I-I mean… Xander, Dawn, do you mind if I talk to you outside the room for a moment?"

Buffy stepped over the beds in the room just to avoid crossing K's path while she sat on the floor.

K frowned. "I-I thought it would be better if I were away from Buffy," she said quietly looking from Angel to Willow. "I don't get why she'd want me to stay closer to her."

"Buffy's just been acting a little strange lately," Willow said. "Don't worry about it."

Meanwhile, Buffy had walked out into the hallway with Xander and Dawn and closed the door behind her.

"Is there a problem letting K room with us?" Xander asked.

"Why? Do you like her? What do you think of her?" Buffy asked frantically.

"Calm down, Buffy," Xander said. "I don't hate her, I don't like her. I've never really talked to her. So I can't say anything."

"What about you, Dawn?" Buffy asked. "What do you think of her?"

"I don't know her," she answered. "What's gotten into you, Buffy?"

"It's not what's gotten into me, it's what's gotten into everyone else," she said, her tone now hushed. "I think K is some kind of brainwashing demon, and everyone she has touched either loves her or really likes her, and I don't know what her plan is exactly, but I don't want her to get very far with it."

"So what's your plan?" Xander asked. "You can't just randomly kill her."

"I'm doing some research on what type of demon she is as well as how to get her to reveal her true identity," Buffy explained. "But I'm just scared that someone will find out what I'm up to, or she'll see me and then do something horrible or something like that."

"Wouldn't it be better if she were out of the way, then?" Xander asked. "We'll keep her up in our room, and you can do whatever research you can. We'll make sure she doesn't touch us."

"And if she does touch one of us, we'll make sure she doesn't touch the other person," Dawn assured. "Let us help you out, Buffy."

"Fine," Buffy said reluctantly. "If you two can be safe with her up there, then I'm fine with that. Spike will be disappointed, though. She's got the strongest brainwashing on him."

Buffy opened the room and let Xander and Dawn back in.

"Okay," she said to everyone. "K, you can go to the other floor with Xander and Dawn. Willow, Kennedy, you decide which one of you goes into the other room with Satsu and Spike."

"Why can't it be you or Angel?" Kennedy asked.

Buffy ignored her. "K, do you want to get your stuff and head upstairs?"

"Um," K said, looking at an annoyed Kennedy. "Yeah, sure." She left the room.

"Wow, Buffy," Kennedy complained.

"It's okay, baby," Willow said, putting her hand on Kennedy's arm. "I'll go into the other room, I don't mind."

"No, I'll go," Kennedy said. "I'd rather be with Satsu and Spike than in here."

Willow kissed Kennedy on the cheek.

Kennedy got up and grabbed her things and dragged them into the other room as K was bringing her bag back with her.

"Well, I'm ready to go!" she perked up. "You can lead the way, Xander!"

Buffy nodded. "Take care."

Xander and Dawn led K to the floor upstairs, cautious to keep their distance until they finally arrived to room 820.

"I'll just be in the bathroom," K said, dropping her bag on the floor. She went in.

"How are we going to sleep?" Dawn asked Xander. "I mean, what if we're both asleep and she touches us and we don't even know it?"

"Don't worry about it," Xander said, kissing her forehead. "We've dealt with demons a ton of times. And almost all the time they were more powerful than K. Why don't you sleep, and I'll keep a look out?"

"You can't stay up all night, Xander," Dawn said. "You stay up for half the night, and then I'll stay up. And I call getting the first shift."

Xander smiled and pulled Dawn close to him. "Fine."

K came out of the bathroom and yawned.

"Hm. We should get to bed. We've got a big day of vampire slaying ahead of us!" K hopped into bed as Xander and Dawn went into the other bed.

Back in room 718, the rest of the gang was also getting ready for bed. Kennedy had moved into room 717 with Satsu, but Spike still wasn't back yet.

Just as Angel was telling Buffy, "Don't worry about him." The door had opened, and the bleach blond vampire strutted into the room.

"There you are," Buffy said. "We rearranged some sleeping arrangements."

Spike shrugged and shook his head. "Okay, then."

"You're still sleeping in the same room. Kennedy is going in with you and K has gone up one floor. She's staying with Xander and Dawn who arrived earlier and got another room."

Spike nodded slowly. "Right. So we're going to the second nest tomorrow?"

"Um. Y-yeah, we are."

"Got it. Goodnight, then." Spike left.

"Is the whole mind control thing temporary or something?" Buffy asked herself. She shrugged and decided to forget about it for now. She could do more research later.

Dawn was in Xander's arms. She could hear his heavy breathing by her ear as she remained awake. 'He's definitely asleep,' she thought.

"Xander? Dawn?" K said quietly, adjusting her position in bed so that she sat up more. "A-are you guys asleep?"

Dawn pulled herself out of Xander's grasp and sat up a little herself. "I'm still awake. Xander's completely gone."

"Dawn… why do you think Buffy hates me so much?" K asked.

"She hates you?" Dawn asked, pretending to be in shock. "I-I don't know."

"Willow told me today that she might be jealous of me," K said. "But that just doesn't make sense. I mean, who cares of both Spike and Satsu fell in love with me? Well, I do, obviously, but why does Buffy?"

"I'll tell you something about Buffy," Dawn said, straightening herself a little more. "When it comes to her love live, no one knows what's going on in her head. In fact, I don't even think she understands it. But she gets this desperate need for, like, everything. She just becomes this little attention whore or something. I don't know why, but it's like she needs everyone to love her at all times. She can't handle someone else getting the love."

"I didn't think Buffy was like that," K said.

"Well, I didn't think you were one to care what people like her thought of you."

"I'm usually not, but… something about Buffy not liking me is bothering me."

"Right. I get it. She's like your boss, and it's not good for your boss not to like you, because, well, then you're kind of screwed."

K nodded slowly, even though that wasn't exactly how she felt.

Before long, Dawn and K actually began to have a real conversation. Well, it was more like Dawn spoke a lot about Buffy and K mostly listened, occasionally chiming in when she felt it was necessary. If anything, Dawn seemed to be having a good time.

"Has Buffy ever actually had a conversation with you?" Dawn asked.

"Not really. I mean, not a real conversation like this one."

"She really should, then maybe she wouldn't hate you so much."

"So you don't hate me? I kinda got negative vibes when I first came up here."

"No, I don't hate you at all. And I don't know about negative, but it was mainly because I didn't know you and you're kind of different. But you're pretty cool. Buffy's just being a jealous attention whore. Don't worry about her."

K nodded. "Right. Well, I'm glad you don't hate me. We should really get some rest."


	10. The Second Vamp Nest

**Author's Notes:**

All these brilliant characters (except for K) belong to Joss Whedon because if they belonged to me, I'd be… Joss Whedon. Which I'm not. Your feedback is greatly appreciated. Thanks, and enjoy.

**The Second Vamp Nest**

The next morning, everyone was up and getting ready to go to the next vampire nest. K actually managed to shower, a luxury she barely had time for lately. She had to be careful of her left arm, though, and avoid getting the sling wet. Before long, everyone was at the lobby of the hotel, ready to get into the van.

Kennedy drove with Buffy up front next to her. Angel, Spike, and Xander sat in the middle row as the four other girls squeezed in at the back.

They had arrived at the next building, which was around half the size of the first one.

"At least it's smaller," Willow said. "Probably less vamps. We'll be able to kill them more easily."

They got out of the van, Angel and Spike running under the blanket, and entered the ground floor of the second building.

"It looks exactly the same!" Kennedy scoffed.

"There are no vampires on this floor," Angel said.

"And there are five floors instead of eight," Satsu noted. "What's the plan, Buffy?"

"First floor is empty," Buffy started. "We'll go in pairs for the other floors. And one group of three. Dawn, you'll have to be with a Slayer, just so I'm sure you're safe."

Dawn scoffed, but didn't argue.

"I'm trying to make it so that the power on each floor is somewhat equal. Willow and Xander, you take the second floor. Satsu, Kennedy, and Dawn take the third floor. Keep her safe. Angel and Spike, you take the fourth floor."

Angel and Spike looked at each other in terrible confusion, but didn't talk back to Buffy's orders.

"And K and I will take the fifth. Any questions?"

No one spoke.

"Good. Let's go."

Everyone went to his or her designated floor, and as Buffy and K entered the hallways of the fifth floor, they began to stealthily look for vampires.

Once the showed themselves, Buffy was a slaying machine. She kept most of the vampires at a distance from K and killed them before they even got close. K figured that it was probably because she wanted to keep her at a distance, too. Then why did she choose to go to the floor with her?

A few vampires came from the other side towards K, but she was able to stake them with ease. "This is too easy this time," K said.

Buffy decapitated one last vampire with her axe.

"I guess there are less on this floor," she said. "I'll do a quick check around. You stay there."

"But I can help you," K said, not taking a step. "I can help if there are any more vampires."

"Just stay there," Buffy ordered as she disappeared behind a corner.

K didn't move as she patiently waited for Buffy to come back. It felt like forever. She felt like she was frozen. She felt no pain, only a heavy weight in her chest. She didn't know how much time passed when Buffy returned.

"This floor's empty," she said. "Let's go one floor down. Angel and Spike should be there."

K obeyed, and the two slayers went down the stairs to the fourth floor.

They saw Angel first, searching the rooms of the office building for more vampires.

"What's going on here?" Buffy asked.

"Where's Spike?" K asked, a little too loudly.

"He's on the other side of the floor," Angel said. "And we're just checking to see if there are any more vampires on this floor. We dusted, like, ten of them, and there don't seem to be any more."

Spike came around the corner. "No more," he said.

K smiled. "Spike," she said quietly.

Spike smiled back. "Hello, love. Is everything clear up top?"

Buffy nodded. "So there are no vampires on this floor?"

"This is way too easy. I mean, I haven't even gotten sore yet," K said. "I'm not complaining, though. I mean, my arm's already in this sling."

"I think all the vampires are moving down," Angel said. "They might be trying to escape, but I can't see how what with the sun shining down outside and all. There is a possibility of another exit, though."

"Then let's get down there. Fast, before they escape."

The four of them ran down one more floor and searched for Kennedy, Satsu, and Dawn.

"Dawn?" Buffy called. "Kennedy? Satsu?"

After the four of them looked around for a bit, they found the three girls fighting off a huge hoard of vampires with great difficulty.

"We have to help!" Buffy announced, less than a second after everyone had already jumped into the rumble.

It was difficult for K to fight off so many vampires off at once, especially because of her injured arm.

A vampire lifted her up and pushed her against the wall by her shoulders. She squired, but couldn't escape his grasp.

"Mmm… blood of a Slayer," the vampire said. Just as it leaned in to bite her, it vanished and turned into dust.

"Dawn," K gasped as she tried to stay standing. "Thank you. You saved me."

"Don't mention it," she said, smiling.

K smiled back. "Dawn, look out!" K pushed Dawn out of the way of a lunging vampire. K punched it in the face, leaving it in a daze just before stabbing it in the chest.

Dawn had fallen over, and was looking up at K in complete awe.

"You saved me," she said.

K laughed. "Don't mention it. We're even now."

K extended her hand, and Dawn grabbed it. K pulled her up.

They briefly smiled at each other before getting back into a fighting stance and beating down more vampires.

"God, this is so endless!" Dawn complained.

"Dawn, go help Spike. I can handle it here, but he seems to be having some trouble," K said.

Dawn nodded, and left K alone with her group of vampires.

She started dusting them with ease before some of the tougher ones actually decided to hit back.

One of them had picked up a slayer weapon—a crossbow with the wooden arrows in it. He pointed it at K from a distance.

"What a nifty little device," the vampire chuckled. "Let's get rid of the smallest one first."

K didn't have time to react when she realized that the vampire had already shot the arrow in her direction. She closed her eyes and winced, waiting for the sharp pain of the arrow to penetrate her. But it didn't. What had happened? K opened her eyes to see the arrow, but it was sticking through something—a person.

It was Angel. He had stood in the way of the arrow. It stuck through just below his chest and stuck out on the other side of his back. He pulled it out, wincing, and then threw the arrow into the vampire's heart.

"Angel…" K said quietly. "Y-you just saved my life. Oh, God, you're hurt because of me."

"It's better I got hit than you," Angel told her. "You would've died."

"Yeah, but… oh, God, it was so close to your heart. If you had died because of me…"

"But I didn't," Angel said. "So it's okay."

Spike was in front of Buffy and Dawn, fighting off and staking a whole group of vampires. He was protecting the Summers girls. Once he was finished, that was the last of them on that floor. As the dust shifted, everything grew silent.

"Willow and Xander must be going through hell," Satsu said. "If the vampires are moving down, and they're on the lowest floor."

Everyone ran. On the lower floor, Willow and Xander didn't seem to be going through too much trouble to be killing the vampires. Willow would freeze them using magic and Xander would go around and stake each one.

"Willow, did any vampires escape to the ground floor?" Buffy asked. "They seemed to be going down, they were trying to escape."

"No, Xander and I made sure none of them would get away," Willow said. "You guys look really beat up, though."

"The floor above this one had a ton of vamps. And we didn't have a witch to freeze them."

"Oh. Sorry."

"No, don't apologize. You were great down here," Buffy said as Xander dusted the last vampire. "And now we're done."

Willow nodded. "Good. What time is it?"

"It's around 6."

"Should we get back to the hotel?"

"We'll go back," Buffy said, "and we'll discuss our plans for tomorrow."


	11. The Spell

**Author's Notes:**

All hail the brilliant Joss Whedon who owns all this (except for K) because he is a genius. Let me know that my readers exist! Thanks, and enjoy!

**The Spell**

Buffy had everyone gathered in room 718 as they discussed their plans for what was going to happen the next day.

"We're not going to the third nest yet," Buffy said. "We need a day to recharge. I suggest we all get some rest, though. I'd just like to talk to Willow and K outside for a moment."

K looked up in shock. Why would Buffy want to talk to her? Is she going to send her away?

"But first Willow," Buffy said. "And K, I'll call you out later."

Though still in shock, K slowly nodded.

Buffy and Willow left the room to go into the hallway. Satsu, Kennedy and Spike had already gone into the room next door, and Xander and Dawn left to go to their room.

"Can I talk to you for a moment?" Angel asked, lightly putting his hand on K's shoulder.

K cleared her throat and nodded. "Yeah, I guess."

"Well… did you want to tell me anything?"

K shook her head.

"Really? Because you seemed a bit troubled by what happened today."

"Troubled? I-I don't know about troubled. You almost died for me. I guess I'm just… a bit shocked. Very grateful, but… why did you do it? If I died, it wouldn't have been as much of a loss than you dying."

"Why do you say that?"

"Well, you're a tougher fighter. You could probably kill more vampires than me. You're a vampire with a soul. There's only two of you. There's thousands of other slayers now. I'm not that important."

"It doesn't matter anyway," Angel said. "I didn't die. If you had gotten hit, you would have died for sure."

K nodded. "Yeah. I just don't know how I would live myself knowing someone died for me. So I guess I'm just horribly grateful you saved me and didn't die."

Angel pushed K's bangs out of her eyes. "You're welcome," he said softly.

K smiled up at him.

Meanwhile, outside the room, Buffy was talking to Willow about the research that she was doing.

"Willow," Buffy said seriously.

"Buffy, is there something wrong?" Willow asked. "Why aren't we fighting vamps tomorrow? No one seems too terribly broken."

"Before I tell you anything, Willow, I have to ask you something. You trust me, right?"

"What? Buffy, of course I trust you. How could you even question that? You're my best friend, Buffy, and-and I'll believe anything you have to say. What would make you think I wouldn't believe you?"

"Willow, I have reason to believe that you're under the influence of brainwashing. Mind control. And we can only win if you trust me completely right now."

"Brainwashing? Mind control?" Willow repeated in shock. "Buffy, what is this about?"

Buffy leaned closer to Willow and dropped her voice. "I believe that K is a demon. A brainwashing demon that can control anyone she touches."

"Are you sure, Buffy?" Willow asked.

"The only reason you're skeptical is because she's touched you before," Buffy explained. "Anyone she touches ends up really liking her, if not, loving her. I know it seems a bit crazy, but that's only because you're under her influence."

"But are you positive about this, Buffy?" Willow asked. "That K is a demon and she's controlling us?"

"Don't you believe me?"

Willow frowned. "Of course I do. I can fight this mind control. What do you want me to do Buffy?"

"Do you know any spells that we can do to reveal her true demon form?" Buffy asked. "If we can get her to show her true self, it will break her hold that she has on everyone."

"B-Buffy…" Willow said softly.

"What? You don't know a spell?"

"No, I know a spell. A strong spell. A spell that might be too strong."

"What do you mean too strong?"

"Buffy, if K isn't a demon, it could kill her. B-but you said she was, and I believe you. So it shouldn't be a problem."

"Okay," Buffy nodded. "That's why I gave everyone the day off tomorrow. So we can do the spell."

"Well, for the spell to work, we need to be close to the earth."

"We'll sneak into the basement of the hotel," Buffy said.

Willow nodded. "Oh! How are we going to get K to come down with us? I mean, she's all demon-y, right? Are we going to knock her out or something?"

"If necessary," Buffy said. "But if her disguise is a Slayer, then let's treat her like one. I've got an idea. Follow my lead."

Buffy opened the hotel room door and poked her head inside. She saw Angel and K. Angel had his hand on her shoulder. "K," Buffy called.

K jumped, pushed Angel's hand off of her and shook her head, making her hair messy. "Y-yes?"

Buffy looked at Angel, and then back to K. "Can Willow and I talk to you for a second?"

Angel sighed, and K went outside with Buffy.

"So there was one thing I completely forgot about," Buffy told her, her voice still extremely low. "Usually, when new Slayers go into training, we do a spell on them once they're done. Just to sort of make it official. It's just a spell to seal your Slayer powers, make it a tad bit stronger, and… well, it's sort of an initiation process we've started doing. I completely forgot that you didn't go to training at all, and just stayed with us, so we need to do this spell on you. Willow and I were discussing it just now, and we were trying to see if we could do it here, because we need it done as soon as possible."

K smiled. "Is that why these vamps are so tough for me? Because this spell wasn't done on me yet?"

Buffy and Willow looked at each other. "Um, yeah. That's why I gave everyone a day off for tomorrow. So we can do the spell."

"Well, why didn't you just say so in front of them? They were all rather confused about why we're not slaying tomorrow."

"Um, well," Buffy started, "I, uh…"

"The spell is typically done by two people," Willow quickly jumped in. "With a witch and another Slayer. We didn't want everyone to know about it. We don't want other people there when we do the spell."

K nodded. "Makes sense. All right, then. I'm going to head up to bed now. I'll see you two for the spell tomorrow! What time and where?"

"In the basement of the hotel," Buffy said.

"Around 9 o'clock," Willow said.

"And don't tell anyone we're doing it now," Buffy said. "This is usually a secret procedure. Even though we have other Slayers, everyone keeps it to themselves."

"Got it," K said, smiling. "Thanks, guys. I'll see you tomorrow!" She waved goodbye just before she went into the staircase and up to the next floor.

"I'm not sure about this, Buffy," Willow said uneasily. "I mean, she just seems like a sweet girl. I honestly don't think she's dangerous."

Buffy put her hand to Willow's arm. "Trust me, Willow."

The next morning, Willow and Buffy were up early and in the basement of the hotel, setting up the spell. Buffy was searching up the incantation in one of Willow's books, and Willow was pouring red sand in a circle on the ground.

"Morning!" came a cheerful voice from the staircase. "Ah! Is this all magic stuff?"

"Yes, K," Willow said, finishing off the red circle. "You'll be standing in this circle. And Buffy and I will be outside it, saying the incantation and transferring energy."

K nodded. "Well, I'm ready when you guys are. How long is this going to take?"

"Um, a while," Willow answered. "But don't worry about it too much."

"Okay!"

"B-but there is something you need to do for the spell to work," Willow said nervously.

"What's that?"

"W-well, for it to work, you need to be as close to the earth as possible. That's why we're in the basement. So we need less layers between you and the earth."

"D'you want me to dig a hole or something? In that red circle?"

"N-no, I actually need you to take off your clothes."

"Take off my—?"

"Well, just as much of it off as you feel comfortable with."

K became unusually quiet. "I-I understand... It's for the spell to work." She silently went into the center of the red circle and began to strip down until she was just in her underwear.

Buffy and Willow sat down next to the circle, facing each other.

"I'm going to ask you again, are you sure about this, Buffy?" Willow whispered to her.

Buffy didn't answer, but looked down at the spell book.

Willow began to recite the incantation, her voice too low and quiet to make out actual words, although they sounded like Latin. K simply listened and held her arms across herself, trying to ignore the cool air of the basement. Before long after Willow started, a dome appeared around her. She touched it. It felt like glass, even though it looked like pure energy.

Buffy was looking at her, practically unblinking, making K feel extremely uncomfortable. K smiled awkwardly at Buffy from the other side of the transparent wall.

K began to feel a slight tingle at the bottom of her feet. She couldn't think of what it was, but it was probably just an effect from the spell. But she should have felt energy going into her, but it almost felt like it was slowly going out. The tingle became stronger before it started to burn a little.

"Um, hey, Willow? Buffy?" K said, shifting around to keep her feet off the ground as soon as possible. "I know this is kinda silly, but… this kind of hurts. Is it supposed to?"

They didn't answer, so K decided to ignore the slight burning sensation at her feet.

She didn't know how long it had been, but the burning sensation began to grow, sucking more energy out of her. It had now gone up to her knees, and was going up her thighs. Her legs gave in, and she fell over in the circle. Now that her hands have touched the ground, too, they began to burn.

"Buffy? Willow?" she called through the transparent dome. "I'm not sure I want to do this anymore. Guys?"

Willow stopped and looked over at K, who was now panting and sweating.

"Is it done?" Buffy asked.

"Well, no," Willow said. "I just think we should stop. I mean, look at her."

"Buffy? Willow? It hurts!" K screamed through the dome.

The burning was now all over her body, and every bit of energy had gone. The cool, dank basement now felt like it was completely on fire, as if the walls were crashing all around her.

"We need to finish it," Buffy said. "Is there any way we can make the walls of the force field thicker? Block out the noise?"

Willow nodded. K's screams slowly faded, but she was still shouting from inside the dome. She was hitting the walls of the field with her hands, but no sound came out.

The air was growing thinner inside the dome. K was gasping for breath as her body continued to burn. She tried screaming louder, but Willow and Buffy couldn't hear her. She panted just a few more times before her eyes could no longer stay open. She gasped, and fell over, completely limp.

Buffy watched her as she fell, but Willow was too concentrated on the incantation to notice what happened.

Spike had just woken up. He hated being awake in the morning, but he got up anyway. The room was empty. "Bloody hell," he said, rubbing his eyes. He went into the bathroom and stepped into the shower, almost drowning himself in the hot water just because he hadn't felt it in so long. _I don't know why Buffy gave us the day off, _Spike thought, _but I am so glad she did._

He thought of K, as he stood there completely still, the hot water pouring onto his chest and flowing down his front. He wanted to spend the day with her. They'd stay in the hotel until the sunset, of course, but then he wanted to show her a night that she wouldn't soon forget.

"In a field outside of town, we could always be alone," Spike began to sing. He didn't often sing in the shower, but he felt that this song was appropriate while thinking about K. The Hush Sound was her favorite band, after all. "Carry a blanket, maybe a basket, and that's it. Innocence was the key, I was locked up never free… until you turned me. Like vines, we intertwined. Hmm-mm…"

He missed K already. She had only kissed him once, and that was even before they confessed their love for each other. They never really acted like a couple. They never kissed, never held hands, never were in each other's arms. Did she really love him? Or did she still feel like a Buffy replacement?

_I shouldn't have these doubts_, Spike told himself. _After tonight, it'll be obvious._

He stepped out and grabbed a towel, quickly drying himself before wrapping it around his waist. He took a deep breath. "Yeah, I smell good enough." He stepped out, and put some clothes on.

Room 717 was still empty, so Spike went into the room next door to try to find K.

He looked around. There was Angel, Kennedy, Dawn, Xander, and Satsu.

"Good morning, Spike!" Dawn said cheerily.

"Morning," Spike said, continuing to look around the room. "Where's everyone else?"

Angel and Kennedy looked at each other with worried expressions.

"What? What's going on?" Spike asked.

"Well, we were kind of hoping you would know," Kennedy said. "Since it's Willow, Buffy, and K who are missing. We haven't seen them since this morning, and none of them would talk to us."

"What?" Spike exclaimed. "K is alone with Buffy and Willow? What if Buffy convinces Willow to do some sort of dark magic thing on her?"

"Spike, I don't think—" Angel started, but he wasn't able to finish.

"You don't know, Buffy's been acting weird lately," Spike spat at Angel. "We've all noticed it! It's because she hates K, it's because she's sodding jealous!"

"No, it's not, Spike," Xander said. He looked nervously at Dawn, and then back to Spike. "I think you should know the truth."

"Th-the truth?" Spike stuttered, his voice much quieter now. "What truth?"

"Xander, you're wrong," Dawn said. "It's not true, she's not—"

"Dawn," Xander said, holding her hands, "I know what happened at the building yesterday. She touched you, and now you're—"

"No! Xander, no, it wasn't at the building when it started, it was the night before. We were talking and—"

"Does someone want to tell me what the bloody hell is going on?"

All eyes turned to Spike.

Xander cleared his throat and stood up. "K is a demon."

"What the fuck?" Spike shouted at him.

"I know it's hard to believe," Xander said. "That's because you're under her mind control powers. She touches you, and you like, if not love, her."

"You are completely off your bird! K is not a bleeding demon!"

"Oh, God," Angel said. He got up, went into Willow's bag, and pulled out her laptop.

"You only think so because you're under her control!" Xander shouted. "Tell me, when did you start liking her?"

Spike didn't answer. _After she kissed me_. "You're wrong," he said, trying to keep his voice from shaking. "She can't… she's not…"

"She's not," Angel said, looking at the laptop. He turned it around for everyone to see. "This is the demon that Buffy thinks K is. I've come across these several times in my unlife, and I've used their powers before. And K is most definitely not this demon."

"What if you're just saying that because you're under her mind control?" Xander asked.

"Xander, I started liking her that night she first spent in our room. She didn't touch me that night. That's when I started liking her, after we talked. She's human."

"And I've touched these demons before," Angel said. "And the feeling they give off after is completely different from after I touched K."

"So… she's not a demon?" Xander asked.

"No, she's not," Spike said firmly.

"Buffy should have come to me when she started speculating this," Angel said to himself as he closed the laptop.

"I don't be_lieve_ this," Spike shouted. "So, what? Are Buffy and Willow doing some magic to kill her right now? I've got to go save her!"

"Spike, wait," Angel said, holding him to make sure he didn't run off. "I know Buffy wouldn't just kill her like that."

"Then what?" Spike exclaimed.

"I think Willow would do a spell," Kennedy said.

"There's this one spell that's supposed to show any being's true form," Dawn explained. "But I doubt Willow agreed to do it without solid proof that K was a demon."

"Why? What does the spell do?" Spike asked frantically.

"It's really powerful. It could potentially kill her."

Spike's eyes widened, and he ran with incredible speed out of the hotel room. He stopped for a few seconds, and inhaled deeply. _I can smell them,_ he thought. _All three of them. Together. _He followed the scent all the way down into the lobby of the hotel.

He swore under his breath. He couldn't go outside without burning into a crisp. He took another deep breath. _Wait a minute, _he thought. _They didn't go outside._

Without any second thoughts, he ran down into the basement of the hotel. He could hear the rest of the group following him slowly from behind.

"Spike!" Buffy gasped when she saw him.

Willow stopped and turned around to see everyone coming down.

"What the bloody hell is going on?" Spike screamed, his voice echoing off the walls of the basement.

"You have to stop!" "Willow, stop the spell!" "You're wrong!" All the voices screamed at once.

"Wh-what?" Willow stuttered.

"GET THIS DOME OFF OF HER," Spike screamed as he was pounding his fists into the force field. "DO IT NOW."

Willow stuttered for a second, but then spoke the Latin that made the dome around K disappear.

Spike completely destroyed the red circle as he fell to his knees and held a limp K in his arms.

He put his ear to her chest, feeling her sweat-glistened skin on his. He didn't hear anything. He looked up to see everyone staring at him. "She needs CPR," he said. He obviously couldn't do it because he was a vampire, he had no breath in his lungs. "_Someone do it now!_"

Everyone stood still for a second before Satsu ran up to them and knelt down. Spike would not leave K from his arms. Satsu tilted her head back, pinched her nose, and blew air into her mouth before pushing down on her chest several times. She repeated the action.

"Come on, K" Spike said, a few tears now rolling down his cheeks. "Come on, love. Come back to me. You can't leave me like this."

"Oh, God, Buffy," Willow whispered. "What have we done?"

She didn't answer.

Satsu pushed down on K's chest one more time before K finally started coughing.

"Oh, God," Spike said. "Oh my God."

K's eyes half opened. She had felt like she had just been pulled out of a fire, and then knocked out by an extremely heavy object. Her blurry vision had started to clear just a bit, and she saw a familiar figure standing over her.

"Spike…?" she said weakly. It came out a lot softer than she had anticipated.

"Shh…" Spike said, stroking her hair. "It's okay, love. I'm here."

"I…" she said before her eyes closed again and her head fell to the side.

Spike listened to her heart again, and he felt her stomach slowly going up and down in slow breaths. "She's out cold," Spike commented. He lifted her up and held her carefully. "I'd better get her into bed."

As Spike carried her up the stairs, Satsu, Kennedy, Dawn, and Xander followed.

Angel approached Buffy and Willow.

"She's not a demon," he told them. "You almost killed her."

Buffy didn't look him in the eye.

"I-I didn't know," Willow said, tears now forming in her eyes. "Buf-Buffy convinced me that K was a demon, and I thought I was under mind control, and I trusted Buffy, and—Oh, God, I almost killed an innocent little girl."

Angel put his hand on Willow's shoulder. "This isn't your fault." He averted his eyes. "This is yours, Buffy."

Buffy uncomfortably crossed her arms. "I made a mistake," she said, her voice cracking. "And… I'm sorry."

"Two things," Angel said sternly. "First, this is not just a mistake. You let your emotions get in the way, and because of that, almost killed an innocent girl. So what if Spike fell in love with her? And all your friends like her? Just because you want to have everyone, you can't just get rid of her. And just so you know, I was already in the process of doing that."

Buffy looked up at him.

"I told Spike to leave," Angel explained. "And I told him to take K with her. I knew something like this was going to happen. They decided to stay until this mission was over, but obviously, that was too late."

Buffy looked back down, absolutely unable to look him in the eyes.

"And second," Angel continued, "I'm not the one you should be apologizing to." He turned didn't look at her again, went towards the staircase, and left the basement.

"Buffy, I—" Willow started, but Buffy cut her off.

"Don't," Buffy said, not looking up at her. "Just… don't."


	12. Thankful

**Author's Notes:**

I wish I owned these characters, that would make me the happiest girl in the world. Unfortunately, Joss Whedon is the happiest girl in the world. I'd like to thank those who are reading/favoriting/subscribing to this story. The writing totally sucks, yet you guys are still awesome. Thank you, and enjoy!

**Thankful**

Spike stayed by her side. She was in bed, completely unconscious. He sat next to the bed and kept his hand on hers. No one else was in the room… except for Buffy, who was standing about in the corner.

Everyone else was in the room next door, sitting in a circle, morbidly quiet.

"I-is she going to be okay?" Dawn finally spoke up, her voice cracking mid-sentence.

Willow had tears rolling down her face. She couldn't answer.

"It will take time," Angel answered. "But she'll be fine. She needs to get all of her energy back, and a lot of it was taken out of her."

"Oh, God!" Willow exclaimed as she began to bawl. She buried her face in her hands as Kennedy brought her into her arms. "I'm so sorry! I-I didn't want… I didn't mean…" She continued to bawl inaudible words.

"Will, baby," Kennedy said in attempts to console her. "Shh… it's going to be all right. We'll fix this."

"We'll all help," Xander said. "We can help take care of her, until she's back to normal."

Satsu shook her head. "I don't think Spike would want that."

Everyone was quiet.

Buffy shifted awkwardly in the corner of the dark room. She had to say something. The quiet was driving her insane. But what could she say? She couldn't just spit out, "Oh, I'm sorry I almost killed you. My bad. Let's go kill vampires!" or Spike just might kill her.

_I'm so stupid_, Spike thought. _To think I wanted to spend the day with her. Have fun today. I wasn't even smart enough to realize that I needed to save her life._ He stroked her hand gently with his thumb. _And I was worried about our relationship. What a bloody idiot you are, Spike. _

"Buffy?" Spike said.

"Hm?" Buffy turned her head quickly, shocked that Spike was calling her name. "What is it, Spike?"

"Do you still love me?"

Buffy froze. She didn't know how to answer this.

"Answer me, Buffy," Spike said, a little louder this time. "Before I died… you told me you loved me. Is that still true?"

"Yes, Spike," Buffy said, her voice shaking. "Yes, I still love you."

Spike closed his eyes. "If you love me," he said slowly, "then leave."

"What?"

"Just leave," Spike repeated. "Please."

"Spike, just—"

"Buffy," he cut her off. "I'm not going to say it again."

She looked at him, but he would not look back. She opened the door to the hotel room next door, and closed it behind her.

"Buffy," Angel said.

She looked up at him, tears forming in her eyes. "He wanted me to leave." She sat down next to Angel and put her head on his shoulder. "Angel…"

He put his hand on her head. "Buffy. I'm here."

"I… I love you, Angel. I need you. And no one else." She began to cry into his jacket. "God, what have I done?"

"It's okay, Buffy. I'm here." He pulled her face up and kissed her gently. "I'll always be here. I love you, Buffy."

"I am so blessed," Buffy said. She looked around at everyone else. "I have all of you, and… I love you all. I've been horrible lately… I can't have you all hate me."

"We'll never hate you, Buffy," Xander said. "We could never hate you."

"We've tried," Satsu joked.

No one laughed.

"I'm just saying it's impossible to hate you, Buffy," Satsu said.

Buffy genuinely smiled as she wiped the tears from her eyes. "Thank you," she said softly. "Thank you all so much."

Spike was almost frozen. He didn't move at all as he held K's hand as he sat next to her, simply watching her unmoving body.

"I don't know if you can hear this, love," he started softly, "but this is important. What am I, some sort of coward? I don't know if I could tell you this if you were awake. I don't want to see your reaction." He scoffed. "Can you believe it? Me, a sodding coward? Afraid of a little girl?" He sighed. "Listen, K. I love you. I more than love you. With you, everything is different. People who are in love say the same things: everything around them freezes, it's quiet, and they can only see that person standing in some kind of spotlight. But with you, it's all different. Completely different. Everything moves incredibly fast when I'm with you, and then it slows, but it's still moving before it picks up speed again. And it's never quiet. Hell, with you, it's never quiet. Either it's your voice going through my head or… bells. Bells, just continuously ringing until I get a bloody headache. And it's beautiful. And when I look at you… I just don't see you. I see _all _of you. I see your body, your mind, your heart, your soul. And everything around you doesn't just black out. Hell, no. All the blues turn to red, and all the blacks turn to white. Everything changes color and shape, and it almost looks like a bloody Piccaso painting, only all the lines seem to be going smoothly, and all the sharp lines have softened and even though everything just blurs, it seems as if I'm seeing clearly for the first time. That's the reason I know it's not _just _love, Pet. It's not love, it's you. It's you."

Spike continued to sit there, completely still for God knows how long. There was no sound, no movement, no color.

K groaned quietly. "S…pike…?"

He sat up straight and leaned over her. "I'm here, love. Do you need something?"

The ends of her lips curled into a smile. "I just need you."

"I'll always be here," he said. "Can you move? Can you open your eyes, love?"

K tried to shake her head, but found that she had no energy to do so. "N-no. I can't move at all. My whole body… feels so heavy… a-and I can't…"

"Shhhh, love," Spike said. "You need to save your energy. You need more energy. Hang on, I'm going to get help."

Spike got up and opened the door to the neighboring room. He poked his head in to find everyone looking at him.

"Is she okay?" Satsu asked.

"Willow, can you help me?" Spike asked, ignoring everyone else.

"Y-yes," she stuttered, standing up. She followed Spike into the darker room.

"She's been awake," Spike said. "She just has no energy. She's finally mustered enough up to speak to me just now, but that's all she's got. I figured you could help her fuel up again."

"Magic's not going to help," Willow said. "I-I can't put in energy after taking it out like that. It's like if I heat metal and then cool it again… it'll just crack. She's going to have to generate her energy the old fashion way."

"Which is?"

Willow rummaged through the minifridge which was on the other side of the room and she pulled out a bottle. "Gatorade." She approached K. "You're going to have to help me with this."

Spike put his hands on K's back, slowly lifting her up at an angle. Willow opened her mouth and slowly poured the liquid down her throat.

She coughed after the liquid went completely down with the last of her energy.

"I'm sorry, K," Willow said. "Sometimes the liquid might go down your trachea… but it's all right. The electrolytes should help you get energy."

"Electrolytes," Spike repeated. "Thanks, Willow."

"It's the least I can do," she said with a small smile on her face. "Just… take care of her for us. We're all worried. And sorry."

"Wil…low…" K whispered.

"Yes, K?"

"I'm… sorry."

"What?" Willow asked in shock. "Why are you sorry?"

"That the spell… went wrong. That we had to… end it. Are we… going to try again?"

Willow looked up at Spike, and then back to K. "Oh, God… she doesn't know. She doesn't know what Buffy thought, what she did, what I did…"

"What… does that mean… Spike?"

Spike closed his eyes. It hurt him to even think about how Buffy could do what she did. He couldn't say.

"I… I can't," Willow stuttered. "I can't explain. I think… I think Buffy should tell her, Spike…"

"I don't want to see her," Spike muttered to himself. "I'm sorry, K," he said, just before leaving the room and going into the hallway. He slammed the door behind him.

"Don't… go…" K managed to breathe out after Spike was already long gone.

Willow opened the door to the neighboring room. K heard her speak. "Buffy, do you mind coming in here for just a moment?"

Buffy walked into the room.

"I wanted to talk to her alone," Buffy said. Willow understood and left the room.

"I'm trying to… smile at you, Buffy… but I can barely even talk," K muttered. "I'm sorry… about the spell."

"K… I thought you were a demon. And that spell was supposed to show your true form. It almost killed you. If Spike hadn't arrived when he did, you would have died. I'm sure the last thing you want from me is an apology."

Silence.

"Say it," K whispered.

"I'm sorry," Buffy said, her voice cracking.

K's lips twitched again. "I forgive you."

"You… what?"

"Forgive you," K repeated.

"Why?"

"I have my reasons," K said, a shade of laughter behind her voice. "I'd explain… but I think it'd tire me out too much. I can't even… open my eyes."

Buffy nodded. "That's all I have to say."

"Thank you," K said.

Buffy went back into the neighboring room, slowly closing the door behind her.

"She forgave me," she told everyone. "I just told her exactly what happened, I apologized, and she just forgave me."

"Just like that?" Kennedy asked. "That's it?"

"Yeah. That's it."

"I should go back in there," Willow said. "She shouldn't be left alone."

Willow went back and before long, Spike was back in the room, too.

"Hmm?" K hummed as the two people walked in.

"What do you need, Pet?" Spike asked, rushing back to her side. "Was Buffy okay to you?"

"Just fine. She apologized and… I forgave her."

Spike didn't respond. He knew sure as hell he wouldn't have forgiven her if he were in K's place. But then again, didn't Buffy try to kill him on many occasions?

"Forgiveness," Spike sighed. "It repairs the soul. Without forgiveness, there'd be nothing but hate in the world. You're completely right, love."

"Do you need anything, K?"

"No, Willow," she said. "Thank you."


	13. Dreams

**Author's Notes:**

Joss Whedon owns all this (except for K) and he is my hero. There's a bit of smut in this chapter, just a warning. Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoy.

**Dreams**

It took a long time and gallons of Gatorade before K even started feeling remotely close to better. But with the help of her Slayer powers, she was able to at least sit up in the time of ten days. Spike was almost always next to her, and he finally allowed other people to occasionally come and visit, but most of the time, everyone left those two alone.

"You know, love," Spike said, pouring her a glass of Gatorade, "the day we were supposed to have off, before we took on the third vampire nest… I wanted to make that the best day of your life. Well, night, actually." He handed her the cup. "I don't think you'd fancy me being burned by flames and all. But I wanted to take you out. Have some fun."

K sipped from the cup. "I would've liked that," she said. "I need a fun adventure. Running around New York City in the night… I don't know anything more exciting."

Spike raised one eyebrow. "You crave an adventure? A Slayer wanting adventure?"

She laughed, and then shrugged. "Slaying is an adventure, but not really the kind I wanted. I was an ordinary girl in high school, with nothing but dreams and a strong passion for getting the fuck out of that hell. And… becoming a Slayer… well, you know how that I wanted to start my life over. I thought being a Slayer would be a good opportunity to follow my dreams."

"Which are?"

"Well," K started after a deep breath, "first, I wanted to get a novel published. Writing is kinda my passion and stuff."

Spike smiled. He remembered when writing was his passion.

"But I can see now that the whole being a famous novelist thing is probably never going to happen," K continued. "What with me being a Slayer and all. I've got this sacred duty now, so that's just not going to happen."

"It's all right, love. I gave up my writing dreams. Well, I didn't really have a choice. I got sired and became a soddin' monster. But after all that, I still ended up on the side of sacred duty. I'm just going to say we're on the same page with that one."

K smiled stupidly. "My other dream was to just see the world. Once I had the money, mind you. I wanted to see everything, everywhere, everyone. Meet a ton of new people, make a ridiculous number of friends. I didn't want any close friends, I had enough of those in high school… but just a ton of people and places and things. Run around places and look insane while the people around me gave me disapproving looks. I wanted to touch the clouds and every inch of the earth. I wanted to live."

Spike snickered. "That's some fancy way of saying 'to travel', love."

K's dumb grin grew.

"Did you think being a Slayer would provide you more opportunities to travel?"

She nodded. "And it is providing me opportunities. I mean, I've only been to New York one other time in my life. But, y'know, it's all work, no play. Well, all slay and no play."

"Yeah," was all Spike could say. "You've got some pretty big dreams, though."

"There was… one more…" K said softly.

Spike raised his eyebrows. "And that one is?"

K's cheeks turned pink and she looked down into her Gatorade. "It's kind of dumb. Now that I think about it, it was really dumb of me to expect it to happen the way I wanted."

Spike put his hand on her forearm. Her head shot up at the feel of his touch. He smirked at her.

"You don't have to tell me, Pet, if you don't want to."

K's dumb smile grew. "So, by the time I was a sophomore in high school, living through hell, and just wanting to break out of the rut, I had already developed a plan for myself. It's kinda silly, but I really believed in it."

Spike kissed K's forehead, and then looked lovingly into her warm, chocolate-brown eyes.

"My plan was," K continued, "the instant I graduate from high school, I get out of there and go to college somewhere on this side of the country. I major in English, and become a badass writer who is the best ever. Then, as soon as I get out of college, I travel the world, writing as I stay at luxurious hotels, which I can obviously afford because I've been saving money since I was in seventh grade for this, and because I'm a very successful author. I get my books published, and I travel, doing book tours and stuff like that. Meeting new people, signing autographs everywhere I go. Of course, at this point, I've forgotten all my friends from high school, including Gary, and I've met so many new people. And then… seven years later, when I'm around 28 years old, that's when I fall in love. That's when I go to buy a huge three-story Victorian-style mansion and settle down with my husband and have a family. That was the plan."

"That sounds like a beautiful life, love," Spike said, now his own stupid smile on his face. "And it's not silly at all. It would have been inevitable if—"

"If I hadn't been chosen as a Slayer," K finished. "Thanks, Spike."

Spike just realized something. "Wait… Gary?"

"My ex," K explained. "I changed the plan a little bit after he broke up with me. The original plan was to tell him to wait all those years until I wanted to settle down. And I believed that he would. I mean, he waited three years before he… before he gave up." K smiled up at Spike. "But all that doesn't matter now."

Spike wanted to hold her. He never wanted to let go of her. He just wanted to keep her close to him, so that her breasts pressed against his chest. He wanted to kiss her over and over again and never stop so that he'd get so turned on that eventually—

"Hey, Spike?" K said.

"Hm?" Spike snapped out of it. "What is it, Pet?"

"You seem kind of out of it," she said. "You haven't gotten any rest. Maybe you should get some sleep."

"Sleep," Spike repeated, rubbing his eyes. It sounded so blissful at that moment. "Maybe that's not such a bad idea."

"You don't need to worry about me," K said. "I think I'm even almost ready to start standing up again. I've been healing quickly. And if I need anything, I'll wake you up."

He nodded. "Right, Pet. Don't hesitate. I'll be right in this other bed, all right?" Spike got up and lied down on the bed. "'Night, love."

"Goodnight, Spike."

Spike felt like he was asleep for days. He slowly opened his eyes and turned his head towards K on the other bed. She was still in the exact same position. She didn't move an inch.

"How long was I asleep, love?"

"Not long," she answered, her voice slightly lower. "You're not tired?"

Spike stood up. "Not at all, love."

K pushed the covers of the bed off of her. "God, it's so hot, isn't it?"

"Yeah, it is," Spike said. He hadn't noticed it before, but the room was getting unusually warm. He took off his shirt. "Why is it so hot?"

He looked over at K, who was slipping off her shirt as well. "I know…" she sighed. "I'm starting to sweat."

Spike sat down on the bed, right next to K's tiny body. He leaned down, and kissed her full on the lips. She pulled her head up and deepened the kiss, as their tongues danced together.

Spike pulled back. K smiled up at him. He kissed her lips again, and slowly moved down until he was kissing her neck.

"Mmm… Spike…" K whispered as Spike was pulling off her bra. He held her breast in his hand… she had surprisingly large breasts for a girl of her size.

He continued to tease her by kissing lower and lower until he reached the edge of her pants. He slowly slid them off along with her panties. He kissed the outside area lightly before putting his tongue out and teasing her clit.

She moaned. "Spike…" she breathed, "I want you."

He continued to suck her clit for about a minute before he looked up. "Are you sure, Pet?"

"I've never been more sure of anything in my life."

Spike sat up. He began to unbuckle his belt. "First time, love," he said, sliding his pants down. "It's going to hurt a bit."

"I trust you, Spike."

He nodded and smiled just before he slowly slid himself inside of her heat. He felt bad as she winced at his girth. He started off slow and careful as she continued to wince in slight pain.

"How are you doing, love?" Spike asked as he slowly moved inside her.

"Hmmm," she groaned. "You're… so big…"

"I'll stop if you want me to."

"No," she gasped, her face relaxing a bit. "I want… you to go… faster…"

Spike raised his eyebrows, but gladly gave in to her request. She continued to moan and repeatedly say his name.

He was so close.

But she was closer. "Aah! Oh, _God, SPIKE_," she screamed as she came over the edge.

He was just about to, and then—

"Spike?"

His eyes shot open. He was still lying in the bed that was neighboring K's. Both of them still fully clothed, the temperature no longer extremely hot. He turned his head over to see K still lying on the other bed. "Yeah, love?"

"What were you dreaming of?" she asked.

Spike furrowed his eyebrows. "I don't know what you're talking about, Pet."

She awkwardly cleared her throat and pointed to the area between her legs.

Spike raised one eyebrow and then looked down to the area between his legs. "Oh, God," he said, quickly grabbing the covers off of the bed and hiding his erection.

K's cheeks were now deeply flushed.

"Um, K, I—"

Someone knocked on the door.

Spike sighed with relief.

"Come in," K called.

Xander opened the door, accompanied by Dawn who had her arm interlocked with his.

"Hey, gang," Xander said, closing the door behind them.

"How are you doing, K?"

"A lot better," she answered. "I've almost got the ability to move my legs now." She smiled. "How have you two been doing?"

"Great. We're still sorta recovering from the vamp nest from a few days ago."

"Wait… you guys went to the third vamp nest and didn't tell me?"

"Sorry, love," Spike said, sitting up. He was gathering the covers of the bed into a little bundle and placed it so that it covered from his waist to his thighs. "That's my fault. I meant to tell you, but I just got so carried away in making you feel better, it just sort of slipped my mind."

"Oh," K said. "It's okay. No problem."

Xander and Dawn sat down on the bed next to K. Dawn was now in Xander's lap, her arms wrapped around his neck.

"I hope you've been getting plenty of rest," Xander said.

"She's alone in a room with her boyfriend, and you think she's getting plenty of rest?" Dawn asked, laughing.

K was slightly disturbed, considering the fact that now that she wasn't in the same room as them, Dawn was alone in a room with her boyfriend. What could they have been possibly doing?

"I have been resting a lot," K said when she realized Spike didn't want to answer.

Xander nodded.

Dawn scoffed. "Sure, of course. I believe you," she said sarcastically.

"No, really," K said in complete sincerity. "I kind of have to rest considering I was barely able to move."

"What? Not even kissing?" she asked as she pushed her nose against Xander's cheek.

"No."

"No hugging or holding each other?"

"No."

"What's wrong with you two?"

"Nothing."

"Well, there's got to be. I never see you two kissing, or even holding hands, or even touching each other. When Spike was with Buffy, they used to have sex all the time."

Spike looked down at the bundle of covers on his legs.

"Well, I don't think we really need all that," K said. She felt she could explain why better than Spike could. Considering that she thought that Spike probably didn't even know why they didn't have a physical relationship like he was used to.

"When you're in your lover's arms," K started, "you feel safe. Like nothing in the world can touch you. You're there, close to them, and the rest of the world fades, because nothing else matters except for your lover. And nothing can even come close to you because you're perfectly safe and content in their arms. That's why lovers hold each other.

"When you and your lover kiss," she continued, "you're completely connected. Your lips touched, and you're practically wired to the other person. You feel the same, and you're probably thinking the same thing. You begin to feel as one.

"When you have sex with your lover, and I wouldn't know the details being a virgin and all, but you're completely given to your lover. Your love is completely each other's and you've given all you have to your lover. There's good feelings, and ecstasy, and happiness."

Xander and Dawn looked at each other, and then back at K. She had caught their attention. Even Spike was looking up at her, wondering where she was going with this.

"You don't need to be in your lover's arms," K sighed, "because your hearts should always be in an embrace. Because of your pure love for one another, there shouldn't be any fear of the world. With your hearts always together, you're always safe.

"You don't need to constantly snog your lover because your minds are already connected. There was a reason you two fell in love, it's because you think the same way, you like the same things, that natural chemistry is all there in your mind and you're already one mind.

"You don't need to have sex with your lover because your souls are moving in unison already. Your souls are already expressing your love and emotions, and there's no need for orgasms in that mix."

"Wow," Dawn said quietly. "I guess I never thought of it like that."

K shrugged. "Not many people do. I'm just weird, I guess."

"That was beautiful, love," Spike said, smiling.

"And it seemed well-rehearsed," Xander added.

K laughed. "Oh, you have no idea how many times I've given that speech. People have even commented that the only reason I think like this is because I'm still a virgin. But I honestly believe it."

"See, Dawnie," Xander said, kissing her forehead. "It's not all about kissing and orgasms."

"I know that!" she said.

K smiled. "Well, it was really nice of you two to come down to see how I was doing. When are we going in to the final battle? The big-boss, last vampire nest?"

"Well, Buffy said she's going to need all the help we can possibly get," Xander explained. "So we're waiting for you to heal, and then we're getting a group of back-up Slayers to help out. We're drawing out battle plans at the moment. Kennedy and Satsu have been constantly going to the building, getting a feel for what it looks like, and then we're sorta planning how we're going to go in for attack."

K nodded. "That sounds great. I'm glad I'll be able to help."

"Yeah. And we want to find out what they're up to, so we'll find that out, too," Dawn said. "Anyway, we should probably go now. Let you rest and all."

"We'll come down again soon," Xander assured.

"That'd be great. Thanks."

"Goodnight," the two of them said, closing the door behind them.

"Buffy is waiting for me to get better," K said. "I really should get some rest about now. I feel ridiculously tired."

Spike smiled. "Yeah, maybe you should get some rest. Save up that energy. Oh, and thanks."

"Thanks for what?"

"Just thanks," Spike shrugged. He lied back in bed. "Goodnight, K. Sweet dreams."


	14. Painting the Town Lavender and Periwinkl

**Author's Notes:**

Joss Whedon is a god, he owns all this (except for K) yadda yadda, etc, etc. Sorry it took me so long to update, this chapter was a bit difficult to write (it's the 30k curse! I dunno, I'm weird.) Anyway, it's the next chapter, so I hope you enjoy!

**Painting the Town Lavender and Periwinkle**

"Are you sure you're okay, love?"

"Of course I'm sure," K said, pushing herself out of bed and standing up. "See?" She wobbled and almost fell again, but kept her balance and stayed up.

"And you're positive?"

"One hundred percent," she assured Spike. She took a few steps forward, turned around, and took her steps back. "Observe, my brilliant walking skills!"

Spike laughed. "I'm glad you're feeling better. How about this, you go ahead and freshen up, make sure you look your best, and we're going to have the best soddin' day ever today. In the meantime, I'll let everyone else know you're back to normal, and they can start asking for the backup Slayers. Sound good?"

K spun around on one food and laughed. It felt so good to be able to move and dance again. "That sounds bloody brilliant, Spike."

Spike laughed again. "Did you just say 'bloody brilliant'?"

"Yeah!" she said, now laughing as well. "Now go to the others before I start writing poetry or something."

He nodded, and went to the room next door.

Everyone was there, discussing battle tactics and planning to get the Slayers in.

"How is K?" Willow asked as soon as she realized Spike had entered the room.

"Just fine," he said with a dorky smile on his face. "Bloody brilliant. She's freshening up right now."

"That's great!" Dawn piped up. "Buffy, when are those Slayers coming in?"

"They should be here tomorrow night," Buffy answered. "So we can go to the last nest the morning after that."

"Excellent. And until then, K and I are going to have a fantastic time together until then because we need to make up for lost time."

"We were all planning to have a bit of fun today," Kennedy said. "Like, we've really got nothing to do until the new Slayers arrive. So might as well."

"Except for Satsu, who has volunteered to patrol around the area in case of vampires," Buffy added.

Satsu shrugged. "I haven't got a girlfriend, so might as well do something useful."

Spike sat down and listened to the rest of the group's discussion as he patiently waited for K to be ready.

After a while, K poked her head in the room and smiled. "Hey, everybody."

"Come in, K!" Dawn called.

"How are you feeling?" Willow asked.

"Just fine," she said, stepping in to the room. She was wearing a white t-shirt with a red skirt that came up to her waist. On top of that, a thin, black jacket. Her hair was tied up in an elegant ponytail as her bangs fell over a fourth of her face.

"You look really hot!" Satsu said. "Spike should take you out more often!"

Spike shot her a look, and K simply blushed.

"You do look really cute," Dawn assured her.

"You look beautiful, love," Spike added. "I'm ready when you are."

"Oh, I'm all ready," she said, "but we can't really go out right now."

"Why not?"

"It's noon!" she exclaimed. "And the sun is high in the sky, and I don't want to be painting the town lavender with a pile of dust."

Everyone gave her a strange look.

"What?" she asked. "Is there something wrong?"

"Lavender?" Dawn asked. "Isn't it paining the town red?"

"It's a long story as to why I changed it," K explained.

"Anyway," Spike said, standing up. "I'd love to hear that story. And our night out starts now, even when the sun's up. We just won't be going out. But trust me, I've got a plan."

"Let's go, then!" K said. With an extra spring in her step, she left the room, Spike closely behind. "So what's the plan, Spike?"

"I was thinking we could have as much fun in the hotel as possible until the sun sets, and then we go and paint the down… I'm sorry, did you say we'd paint the town lavender?"

"Yeah," she laughed dumbly. "I think Red is just weird. Like, when I think painting the town red, I think of destroying everything and killing everyone in your path. Plus, whether it's day or night, I think if the town were red, it'd look really ugly with the sky."

"So lavender looks good with the sky?"

"If it's night," K said. "Which I think would look nice because of the dark and light contrasting. I haven't really heard of anyone painting the town any color in the day, so I haven't really thought about what color I'd paint it then."

"I think it'd be close to lavender," Spike thought, "but maybe more blue-ish?"

"What, y'mean like periwinkle?"

"Yeah. So in the day, we paint the town periwinkle."

"But we can't paint the town any color in the day."

Spike thought about it for a moment. "We'll paint the hotel periwinkle. And then the rest of the town lavender."

K laughed, and then nodded. "Sounds good. What first?"

"Well," Spike started, "I thought we could start off the day by going down and seeing Lorne's show for lunch, and then hanging around the hotel room, having fun."

K raised one eyebrow. "Fun, huh? Well, I guess I'll just have to wait and see what you have in mind."

Together, the two went downstairs into the lounge and decided to order a ton of food while listening to Lorne sing.

"He's really quite good," K said, pouring soup into her mouth. "Mm. I haven't had any good food in way too long. It's just been Gatorade."

"I'm glad you're hungry love," Spike said, taking a bite of his onion blossom. "Because I've got more than just this in mind."

"Hm?" K asked, shoving some of the onion blossom in her mouth as well.

"Don't eat too much here," Spike told her, "because back in the hotel room, we're going to have dessert."

"What kind of dessert?"

"Anything you wish, love."

"That's great, because as good as this onion blossom is, I could really go for some chocolate right now."

"Then let's not waste much more time, Pet."

Lorne's show had ended and K wanted to congratulate him on a wonderful performance, and the instant that was over, she and Spike ran back up to room 717 and collapsed onto one of the beds together.

"Let's watch something," K said, grabbing the remote from the table as Spike grabbed the phone.

"Yeah, room service? We'd like some chocolate. Lots of chocolate. Actually, send up every dessert-like thing you have down there in that kitchen… yeah, especially if it has chocolate. And anything else sweet and… all right, brilliant." He put the phone down.

"OH MY GOODNESS," K exclaimed, practically jumping off the bed.

"What?"

"On BBC! Doctor Who marathon!" K put the remote down and started watching. "Yes! David Tennant!" K looked up at Spike and laughed. "You're British, so you must have heard of Doctor Who."

Spike raised one eyebrow. "Do you know a bloke named Andrew Wells?"

"No. Who's that?"

Spike laughed. "Never mind."

As they watched a bit of Doctor Who, there was a knock on the door. Spike got up to get it, and there was a man who pushed a cart, holding several trays of food on them.

"Thanks," Spike said, slipping a bill into the man's pocket. "That's for you. Go paint the town periwinkle."

"Y-yes, sir," the hotel man stuttered, completely confused. "Thank you. Enjoy." He left, closing the door behind him.

"Haha!" Spike exclaimed, lifting a tray off the cart and sitting back down next to K. He put the tray on her left leg and his right leg.

"Oh my God, that looks so fucking amazing," K said, completely in awe by the sight of the ice cream, chocolate, cookies, brownies, cakes, whipped cream, syrup, and everything else in front of her in that one tray. Without hesitating, she began to devour it, savoring every last bite. "MM. My Gof!" she said with her mouth full. "Doftor Who, Chofolate, and you, Shpike!" She swallowed. "I can't even begin to say how much I love you right now."

She ate through the first tray of food all by herself.

"Blimey, love, take it easy or you'll explode before the second part of the day is over."

"Mmm," she said, her mouth full of chocolate. She held up a piece. "Have shome, Shpike," she spat. "I can't each dish all alone."

"I'm a vampire, love, I drink blood, not chocolate."

"Oh, chome on! Not even a vamp should reshisht chocolate. C'mon, Shpike."

He smirked, but gave in to request. So there they were, closely sitting next to each other, watching Doctor Who, and eating an assortment of chocolate and sweets.

"Have I mentioned how much I love you?" K said upon finishing the second tray of goodies. "I mean… I only sort of have these days in my dreams. Sitting around, watching an awesome TV show, gorging myself with amazing desserts, and sitting with the man I love so much."

"We're both hopeless romantics," Spike laughed.

"Y'know… we _should _have a balance."

"Hm?"

"Y'know that whole spiel I gave about a romantic couple not needing a physical relationship. Well, it's normally healthy to have a balance. Not completely physical and not completely emotional. Sometimes," she scooted herself over closer to Spike, "a little bit is okay."

Spike smiled and raised his arm as he gently put it around her. Her head fell naturally onto his chest. She sighed, and took another bite of chocolate.

"Hey, Pet," Spike started. "This is bloody perfect and all, but we're just getting started."

"What d'you mean?" K asked.

"I mean it's sunset, love. And we've got a town to paint lavender."

"Oh!" K exclaimed, jumping off the bed. "Oh, oh, oh, then why are we still hanging around here? Let's go run around New York city!"

Spike stood up, laughing. "The instant that sun is down, we're out of here."

"Spike!" K squealed again as she wrapped her arms around him. "Oh, I love you so much, Spike!"

"K," Spike said, pulling back so he could look into her warm, brown eyes. "You said… a little bit is okay… right?" He put his hand on her face.

K simply smiled.

He lightly placed his lips on hers, inhaling all the breath of the chocolate and her own essence.

All she could smell was chocolate and Spike.

It was truly the sweetest kiss either of them had ever experienced.

"Right, then," Spike said softly when he pulled away.

K smiled possibly the biggest smile in her whole life. "Can you even begin to imagine how much I love you right now?"

Spike smiled back. "Just wait and see how much you love me by the end of the night. Come on, then!"

They left the hotel together, hand in hand and K asked, "So what's the plan?"

"Plan? No plan. Just keep going and don't stop." Spike pointed to a bright red convertible car that stood by the hotel. "In that."

K laughed. "You're not serious."

"I rented it for the night," Spike explained. He hopped into it without opening the door and beckoned K to come sit next to him. She followed.

Spike revved up the car and took off, obviously speeding, but it perfectly matched with the high speed of the city. K found two pairs of sunglasses in the glove compartment, so she put one on and handed the other to Spike. He looked fucking sexy, but they were obviously too big for her face, but she didn't care. She had to keep the wind out of her eyes.

Suddenly, Spike stopped the car. "Well, this might be fun."

K took off her sunglasses and looked at the building Spike stopped by. "What is it?"

"A club, of course. Reminds me of the Bronze back in good ol' Sunny-D. We should check it out."

"Are there going to be crazy drunk people or creepers who want to rape me?" K asked.

Spike simply laughed. "You're a Slayer, and you're scared of drunks and rapists?"

K smiled. "Whatever. Let's go."

So together they swaggered in, as cool-looking as possible and witnessed the small group of maybe only around 30 to 40 people dancing, which was a lot smaller than most of the clubs Spike has seen. It was a retro-indie band playing, and K was loving it, already tapping her foot.

"Well, don't just stand there, love," Spike said, pulling her to the dance floor. "I've seen what you've got, and I love it."

K laughed over the music, and proceeded to dance with Spike.

God, he loved the way she moved. It wasn't smooth movements, but it wasn't erratic, either. Whatever it was, it was fucking _sexy_. She may have been young and short and cute, but she had a beautiful body, and when she danced around him, he couldn't help but move himself. Their bodies were connected by the beat of the music and they held hands and rocked and moved and were in complete harmony until the song ended.

They even stopped in unison, and when the music started up again, they would go at it. It almost looked like they were having hot, sweaty sex except for they were barely touching each other at all, and they actually looked classy and graceful.

Before long they were all worn out and burning hot, so they sat down by the bar and each got a drink. Spike got a scotch while K got a refreshing glass of Mountain Dew.

"I am having such a blast, Spike," K said, practically swallowing all of her drink at once.

"Really?" Spike asked. "I'm glad, because I have no idea what we're going to do after this. What d'you want to do, Pet? We've got all of New York ahead of us, and every inch of it is open to you."

K really had to think about this. So many options, only one night. "Let's just run around the city," she said. "Most of the time I just imagine running around the city alone, or in a taxi cab, but I imagine it'd be so much better with you."

"You wanted to travel and see the world and the best thing you can think of is to run around the city?"

"Yeah, that's pretty much it."

So that's what they did. It couldn't be described too much, because to both Spike and K, all that was in their memories was constant joy and ecstasy. K vaguely remembers dancing around a lit fountain outside a hotel and Spike somewhat remembers picking her up and spinning her around like they did in those romantic movies. They soon found themselves in Central Park, lying on the grass and gazing up at the moon and the stars as the blue-gray clouds passed over them several times.

"Y'know, Spike, today has been perfect."

Spike turned his head. "You think so? I should've planned this better."

K shook her head and closed her eyes. "No, no at all. The whole fun part was that there was no plan, we just went with the flow, danced and sang, looked up at the stars. And it was all with you, so it could not have been any more perfect."

Spike smiled and looked back up at the moon. "I'm glad you thought so, love, because today was one of the best in my book, too."

K turned on her side and curled up into a ball next to Spike's body, and sighed.

"Are you falling asleep on me, love?"

"No, of course not," K said, her voice slightly groggy. "I can't fall asleep… the night isn't even over yet. I wish the sun would just not rise again, I want this night to go on forever."

"Could that I would, Pet," Spike laughed. "They'll be more nights like this."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

K smiled. "I still don't want this to end."

They continued to lie there in the grass, almost completely still, in each other's arms as the night sky above them no longer wanted to stay dark.

"Love, are you asleep?"

"No, of course not," K groaned.

Spike chuckled. "Well, I hate to break it to you, but unless you want to wake up in the loving arms of a pile of dust, we'll have to go back to the hotel soon."

K sighed, but forced herself to sit up. Spike followed. "Do we have to? Can't we just be like…" she looked at the sky. "Hey! Sun! Yeah, that's right, you big ball of fire, I'm talking to you! Stay down for now, and just… don't burn him up because I love him and I want to stay here with him, but because of you, we have to go so… you suck!"

Spike couldn't control his laugher. "You're so bloody adorable. Come on, love, I've already promised more nights like this. A pile of dust can't promise you that."

"All right. Let's go."

They got in the car, and Spike tried to drive as slowly as possible because he had covered the top of the convertible and blackened out the windows.

"Hey… could you stop for a moment?" K asked.

Spike came to a slow halt.

K opened the door quickly and closed it behind her, making sure not an ounce of sunlight got through into the car. "Is that building over there the vampire nest we're supposed to be going to tomorrow?"

Spike tried to peer through a tiny hole. "Yeah, I think so."

K got closer to it.

"Don't get too close, love, the sun's not fully out yet, and they could still come out," Spike warned her, but she didn't really pay attention to what he said.

She approached the building with caution, looked at it, and then turned back around and sat in the car.

"What was that for? We're coming back tomorrow with the other Slayers to kill them."

"Yeah, I just… I wish I could find out what their plan was, and why they needed so many vampires all over the country."

Spike shrugged. He continued driving, and the two of them thought nothing of it at the moment. The sun had fully risen by the time they had gotten back to the hotel, so they went back up to room 717.

They both collapsed on the bed at the same time, both extremely exhausted from the night they just had.

"Food, chocolate, dancing, running around the town, star gazing… how do we end this perfectly?" K said, curling up into a ball again.

Spike put his arm around her and used his other hand to stroke her hair. "We end it with dreaming, love."


	15. Ritual

**Author's Notes:**

So I've introduced a couple of OCs in here (which include Rex, Charlie, and K) but as you know, the rest belongs to the almighty God known as Joss Whedon. Also, sorry its been so long. Been in a bit of a block lately. But knowing you're reading keeps me going. Enjoy, and let me know what you think.

**Ritual**

K's eyes slowly flickered open. She was still in Spike's arms, fast asleep on the bed in the hotel room. The rest of the room was empty. She shifted a bit, waking up Spike.

"Oh, I'm sorry," she said softly. "Did I wake you up?"

Spike smiled and shook his head. "I was already awake. Just waiting for you to get up, Pet."

K smiled back and scooted herself closer into Spike. "Was the whole thing just a dream?"

"Of course not, love. It was as real as right now."

K sighed. "But this feels like a dream."

Spike laughed lightly. "This can't be a dream. We've got to get to work soon."

"Work?"

"Yep. Slayers should be arriving at the hotel in about a couple of hours or so."

K sat up, still in Spike's arms. "We should start getting ready, then… What time is it?"

"It's around 7:30."

"In the evening? We've been asleep all day!"

"Pretty much." K got up and picked up clothes so she could go into the bathroom and have a shower. "K, what did you dream about all day?"

"Nothing at all," she said. "Really. This is the first dreamless night I've had in years. I think it's because reality has finally got it beat."

Spike laughed at her as she went into the bathroom to take a shower.

She came out in about half an hour, dressed as a Slayer instead of a young lady like the previous day.

Spike was still in bed, now watching something on the television.

"Are we going to have some sort of meeting with the other Slayers?" K asked, sitting on the opposite bed.

"Yeah. Down in the basement of the hotel. Plenty of room. Buffy will announce the information she's got, and then I'm guessing we'll get warmed up and ready before we head to the final nest tomorrow."

K nodded. Spike got up and it was his turn to go into the bathroom for about twenty minutes before he came out again, wearing similar clothes to before.

"Shall we?" he asked.

The two of them went downstairs and into the basement, where the other seven members of their Scooby gang were waiting around.

"We're waiting for the other Slayers to get here," Willow explained as K sat next to her. "We're not really doing anything. The Slayers should be here soon."

And they were there, relatively soon, and Buffy decided to start the meeting.

"So, I'm going to start with a rather cliché good news and bad news situation," Buffy started. "First, the good news is that we've figured out why this organization of vampires has set up so many nests across the country. The bad news is that it was all just one huge distraction."

Several murmurs went along the crowd, but they hushed in an instant.

"The head of this vampire organization is planning something much bigger," Buffy continued. "Willow, why don't you take over for now?"

Willow stood up. "There's a demon that doesn't have a name. It's old, one of the oldest, came directly after the Old Ones, but before the Powers that Be. It was only alive for a very short time, that's why no one bothered to give it a name or document it much. Well, the vampires wanted to bring this demon back to life."

A Slayer raised her hand. "What does it take to bring it back to life?"

"Excellent question. Now, this demon is slow. Very powerful, but slow. It takes a lot of energy to get it started. But once it gets started, well… let's not discuss it. So this demon needs three different energy sources to wake it up, and then it needs to sort of warm up, and then it'll destroy everything in its path. So the three things it needs is the demon essence of a Slayer to get the first shock in, and then for a longer-term energy source it needs the blood of a pure maiden, and for a back-up energy source they need a soul of a Vampire.

"By 'pure maiden' you mean a virgin?" asked another Slayer.

"Well, yes. And as you can see, until recently two out of three of the energy sources were difficult to find. Until recently there was only one Slayer, and no vampires will souls. But now, it's different.

"They wanted Angel to come back to the Slayer army, and then they wanted to draw the Slayer army in using these thousands of vampires."

Spike scoffed. "Oh, please. Has it got to be Angel?"

"Well, they just knew about Angel," Willow explained. "It could be you, too."

"But it's not going to be either of them," K said. "Right?"

"Of course not. And they're not going to get any Slayers, either."

"So what's the plan?" asked a third Slayer. K made a mental note to learn of their names eventually.

"Mount up," Buffy said. "Slay the vamps before they can begin the ritual."

"And what if they begin the ritual? How do we kill the demon?"

Buffy and Willow looked at each other before looking back at the crowd of Slayers. "Well, it wasn't exactly documented how this thing died. It was probably done by the Powers that Be. We were just hoping we would slay the vampires before the demon rose, and we wouldn't have to worry about it."

"We don't have time to research it, anyway," Angel said. "And Spike and I will make sure we're not caught. Raising the demon should be near to impossible for them."

"As soon as the sun rises, we're heading out," Buffy said. "So let's all get ready."

And as the Slayers got their weapons ready, they did some warming up in the basement. K was sparring with Spike like how they had back in the Slayer HQ.

"You seem a little of your edge," Spike said as he noticed K panting heavily while fighting him. "Is something wrong?"

K gave him a small smile. "I'm just worried, that's all. I mean, they're looking for the soul of a vampire, and there are only two of them in existence. I don't want them to get you and take your soul away or something."

Spike smirked. "I should be more worried about you. You happen to have two out of three of the things you want in that little body of yours. I've just got one. You're double at risk."

"Yes, I've got the demon essence of the Slayer and the blood of a pure maiden. But so what? I bet plenty of the girls here have those, too. You're one of the only two vampires in _existence _that has a soul."

"D'you remember that promise I made?" Spike asked. "The one where I said we'd have plenty of more nights like the one we had before?"

K nodded.

"I don't plan on breaking that promise. You understand?"

"Yeah," K said, smiling. "I understand."

"Are we all ready?" Buffy called out to the crowd. Everyone was still. No one answered. "Good. Let's go."

So in small groups (so not to raise suspicion) the Slayers left the hotel. Angel and Spike were, of course, first, seeing as they needed to get into the blacked out car as soon as they could.

Soon, the small army of Slayers stayed in the shadow of the building filled with vampires.

"Willow, where would they be holding the ritual?" Buffy asked.

"Most likely the closest they can get to the sky. So the top floor."

"Let's roll."

But as soon as the army entered the building, they were greeted by a much larger army—an army of vampires.

"Well, well… ladies… it's so nice to see you," said the scruffy vampire up front.

"Hey, wait a minute," Spike mumbled. "I… I know you. Angel, we know him."

Angel squinted his eyes. "Charles?" he mumbled.

"Ah. And Angel. And… Spike? Well, this is a surprise."

"You know him?" Buffy asked.

"From our evil days," Angel explained. "So you're the one up to this. You always were a nostalgic one—bringing back old things into your present."

He chuckled. "Please, Angel. Call me Charlie now. And you've always helped me before, and you're going to help me again now. Or… I suppose Spike could as well. When did you get a soul?"

Spike didn't answer, he simply glared.

Charlie laughed again. "Anyway… I think it's about time we ended the small talk." He nodded once and the army of vampires behind him took one step forward.

The army of Slayers set themselves into battle position.

And before long, the two armies began to fight. There were easily three times as many vampires as Slayers, so each girl had to take on a few vampires at once.

The battle raged on, and K was already exhausted by the time she had dusted two vampires. They were stronger than most of the vampires she had fought, and were throwing punches like anything. One of them had gotten a hold of a Slayer axe and managed to give her a few flesh wounds. By the time she had killed another vampire, she was tired and dizzy, and had lost a lot of blood.

Spike was lost in the crowd, and K was starting to get a little paranoid. Where could he be? She just hoped that they didn't take him away to use him in the spell. She closed her eyes for just a moment to pray that he hadn't been taken when she felt two large hands grab her arms and trapped them to her body. Soon, her feet were lifted off the ground.

"Hey? What? Get off of me!" she yelled and squirmed. If someone didn't stake this vampire now, she was dead.

The large vampire put his mouth to her neck. "Mmm… Slayer… and… pure…"

K was waiting for her neck to be pierced, but it didn't happen. Instead, she was being lifted away from the battle and up the stairs into the second floor of the building. She tried to fight her way out, but she was too small and the vampire was too strong.

"I found one," said the large vampire as he threw her on the floor. K noticed she had landed next to something—next to someone.

It was Spike.

He lied there, unconscious and spread-eagled on the floor beside her.

"Spike!" she cried out as she put her hands to him. "Oh, God, what have they done?"

"Shut up," Charlie said. "She's a Slayer? And she's pure?" he asked the large vampire.

He nodded.

"Excellent," Charlie laughed. "We'll keep these two safe then."

The large vampire lifted her and Spike up again, and locked them in what looked like an office conference room.

"You can't do this!" K shouted, holding onto an unconscious Spike. "Those Slayers down there are going to kill you, and you won't get away with this and—"

Everything went black.

Spike blinked his eyes open. He was locked in some sort of office room, lying on the table. K was next to him, bleeding and unmoving.

"K? K!" Spike exclaimed. He held her in his arms, extremely gently to prevent any more blood from oozing out of her cuts. "Please, get up, please."

She didn't move.

"She won't get up," said a voice.

Spike shot up. "You," he spat at Charlie. "What have you done to her?"

Charlie laughed. "Nothing. Just knocked her out. She was awfully chatty. We just needed some quiet."

"You soddin' monster, I swear to God, I'm going to kill you myself!"

"You might just have to," Charlie laughed. "All your Slayers are… busy."

"What have you done to them?"

"It's what we're doing to them. Like I said, we're just keeping them busy. You see… we've got a huge army backed up here. We've got at least two hundred of us waiting for your group of about twenty Slayers. But we don't send them in all at once. No, we're trying to draw this out as long as possible, so we send in a few at a time just to keep them busy."

"And then after you've played with them?" Spike asked.

"Well, we don't want them to miss out on the show," Charlie said. "We need our newly risen demon to have some fresh meat when he arises. We're just trapping your Slayers for him to feast on later. Unless… one of us gets a little peckish." He laughed again.

"You can't do this. You understand that demon will destroy everything in its path?"

"And you're going to help, Spike," Charlie mocked.

"If you think you're getting this soul," Spike stood up, "you're sadly mistaken. I went through _hell _to get it, and… why me? And why her?"

"We knocked you out first," Charlie explained. "That Angel… he's a fighter. He was protecting that one blonde Slayer. What was her name? I don't remember. She was the leader. And her because… well, she was the smallest and easiest to get to. There were quite a few pure Slayers in there, but she was just easy to pick up."

"I'm going to kill you," Spike repeated.

"I'd like to see you try. Nothing in here but glass and metal. No wood, my friend. No staking, no dust."

"I could always rip your head off."

Charlie laughed again. "Soon you'll be killing her." He pointed at K.

"I will never kill her," he said. "You have no idea what she means to me."

"Aw, Spike's got a Slayer girlfriend!" Charlie said. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small glass jar. "Do you love her with all your soul?"

Spike's eyes widened. "You're going to…"

"Just take it away," he said. "Will you still love her then?"

"I will never kill her," Spike said. "Without a soul… it might not be love, but I will _never _kill her. I need her."

"Rex!" Charlie called.

The large vampire entered the room. "You called, boss?"

"Yes… please help with getting one of our ingredients."

Rex pulled a small book out of his pocket and began to utter Latin. Charlie uncorked the small glass bottle.

Spike screamed in agony, like a piece of him was being forcibly ripped out of his body. He fell over, his body limp as the glass bottle in Charlie's hands glowed a faint light.

"Ha!" Charlie exclaimed. "Good work, Rex. I believe we have it."

"Can I kill him now?"

"No. He's one of us again. And besides, we need his body alive. Or else his soul will just disappear."

Rex nodded. "And the girl?"

"We'll take her when we're ready upstairs. Guard this door from the outside, and I'll go check on the progress of the rest of the spell."

The two vampires left and locked the door behind them.

Spike woke up again. He felt odd, he felt… _hungry._ He looked up at the table where K still stayed limp and unmoving. She was still bleeding, too. She smelled so good.

He sat on the table and held her in his arms, smelling her, smelling her blood. A Slayer's blood. He had tasted it before, and now…

But he needed her. He loved her. He was obsessed with her. He held her tighter and began to kiss her wounds, tasting the salty and warm blood on his lips.

"S-Spike?" K slowly blinked her eyes open. "What are you…?"

"They took it, love," Spike said, continuing to kiss her bloody forehead. "And you taste so… warm. And sweet. Must be all that chocolate."

"Your soul," K said slowly. "It's gone."

"Yes."

"Do you still love me? Are you going to kill me?"

"I love you, K. And I need you. I can't kill you."

K smiled slightly. "You know… you can't love without a soul. Well, you can… but it's not really love."

"Whatever it is," Spike panted, "I need you."

K pushed him away and got off the table. "Spike… I trust that you don't want to kill me right now. I know the difference between no-soul and soulful Spike isn't as radical as say Angel and Angelus… but… I feel like you're getting tempted. And my bleeding wounds don't seem to be much of a help."

Spike smirked and raised one eyebrow. "I'm not going to kill you, love."

"Don't look at me like that," K said. She couldn't suppress a tiny laugh. "It's very attractive, and you're distracting me. I'm trying to see if we can find some way out of here. If we can get out, get your soul back, and kill those vampires, then they won't be able to do the ritual."

Spike put his hand around K's waist and pulled her back onto the table. "I know another way to stop the ritual."

"Really?" K was slightly surprised. "You have a plan, then? What is it?"

Spike leaned in so his lips were barely touching her ear. "It's so simple, Pet," he breathed. His warm breath sent a shiver down K's spine. Spike chuckled. "They need the blood of a pure maiden. If we just made you… impure…"

K understood where this was going. "Um… Spike, I—mmm…"

He had begun kissing her neck as his arms were tight around her body. She admitted it felt good, even when he came around to taking her shirt off. It had been so long since she felt like this, since—

"Spike… I don't want to do this…"

"You don't?" Spike asked, moving his lips lower down her torso. "I do."

He kissed her full on the lips as she felt his hardness rub against her sacred area through their pants.

"Please, Spike," she panted as he let her go. "Please, I don't want to—"

The door flung open, and there stood Rex and Charlie, completely shocked and entertain at the act that was going on in front of them.

"So she _is _your girlfriend," Charlie laughed. "Well, as hot as this is, I can't have it be done. She must be a pure maiden. And… oh, will you look at the time? It's about time we get that ritual done and over with, don't you think?"

Rex threw Spike off of K, and picked up the little girl with one hand.

"In fact," Charlie said, locking Spike's hands into handcuffs behind his back, "I think I'll even let you come and watch. Just for fun."

They were brought onto the top floor of the building. K could even hear the battle raging on below her as the Slayers continuously fought the endless army of Vampires.

There was a circle with a star in it, drawn with some unknown substance on the ground. Candled burned all around them, creating the only light in the dim room. A mixture of smells filled the air like blood, dust, and burning wax.

Rex threw K on the floor promptly before her hands were cuffed together by Charlie in front of her.

"Shallow cuts…" Charlie muttered as his knife grazed K's skin, barely penetrating the flesh. The lack of pain caused by these cuts made K's other wounds burn. She barely noticed Spike being chained to the wall to her left.

"And now, Rex," he continued, dropping the blood into the circle, "please recite the incantation… and make her a Slayer no more."

Rex uttered Latin and before long, K could feel the energy being slowly drained out of her, being pulled into the circle.

"And now… let him rise!"


	16. Chosen Child

**Author's Notes:**

Well, I'm assuming you've seen Buffy and you should know what's Joss Whedon's and what's mine, so I'm not even going to bother to differentiate, but keep in mind that mine is mine and Joss' is Joss'. Onwards! Enjoy.

**Chosen Child**

A rush of wind blew from the circle. K's hair was covering her face, and she couldn't push it away to see what was going on because her hands were still cuffed. An ear-piercing screech rang throughout the whole room, making Charlie's maniacal laughter barely audible.

Once the wind stopped and the room quieted, K could only hear the panting of the newly risen demon. Large, scaly, and a mucus-green with bright red horns curling out of the side of its head, it opened its mouth and roared a terrible sound that almost sounded like a dinosaur and a hyena were simultaneously giving birth.

"Oh, God," K said to herself. She was so drained of her energy that she fell over. "This is all my fault… if I had just…"

"Now, my pet," Charlie said in a demanding voice, "we've got fresh meat for you downstairs. If you'll just come along, we'll gladly feed you."

The demon growled again. It looked down, and picked up K with just a few fingers before throwing her aside on the wall next to Spike.

"K!" Spike exclaimed. "Bloody hell!" He shook and tried to break out of the chains, but to no avail.

The great beast shook the whole building with every step, although each step took it a long moment before it could get to the next one. Surely the Slayers knew what was on its way.

As soon as the demon had broken through the doorway, Charlie and Rex had gone out to follow it.

"K?" Spike called. "Are you all right?"

K groaned as she put her hand to her head and sat up. "Define 'all right.'" She looked at her hand. "Fuck. God, I'm bleeding, and I have no Slayer powers, and I can't do any bloody thing. Oh, except this." She picked up a small key from the floor. "He must've dropped this." She stuck it, with great difficulty, into her own handcuffs and released herself. She compared the key to Spike's lock. "It seems like this is the master key, it'll free you, too."

"Let me out, then!" Spike shouted.

K took a few steps away from him. "I-I'm not sure. I mean… you don't have a soul. And after what you did to me when we were being held captive… I don't think I should let you out until you're ensouled again."

"I've fought vampires without a soul," Spike said. "I've been good without a soul."

"I have to be safe, Spike," she said, putting the key in her pocket. "We'll kill the demon, get your soul back, and then I'll let you out. I promise."

"You can't just leave me here!"

"No one's coming back up here. Nothing can hurt you here… except for yourself. You can't regret right now, Spike, and you could do something rash. Once you get your soul back, you might feel horrible about it. I can't let that happen. Spike, I'm doing this for you. And I'm doing this for us."

Spike sighed. "You'd better get back here bloody soon."

K nodded. "Of course. We'll fix this."

"Be careful, love," Spike said softly. "I know how you're trying to protect me… but I can't lose you."

"Don't worry about me," she said, smiling. "I may not have Slayer powers, but… I can still help. Just hang out. I'll come back soon." She kissed him on the cheek quickly before running out the door, following the demon downstairs.

The demon was now facing the Slayer army with the remaining vampires lining up behind it. K had gotten down to the first floor just in time. None of the Slayers had died, thankfully, but some of them were about to as they began to try to puncture the demon.

The battle got bloody as the Slayers shot their crossbows, swung their axes, and stabbed with their stakes. K could barely maneuver herself. She was still bleeding and everything was getting fuzzy, and—"Oh, Willow!"

"K!" Willow exclaimed. They both tried to fight their way away from the battle. "Oh my God, what happened?"

"They took my blood," K said. "And they took my Slayer powers. And they got Spike's soul."

"Where's Spike?"

"He's chained up on the top floor… but Willow… you've got to help restore his soul. I know you've done it before with Angel, and… oh, we have to bring him back."

"Well, the soul is powering the demon right now," Willow told her. "If we could find some way to get the soul out of the demon, we could get it back into Spike. But… we don't even know how to kill this thing. Our weapons are useless."

"How did it get defeated before?"

"I don't know! It was the Powers that Be that got rid of it!"

"Is there anyway that we can figure out how they got to them?"

"Um… Angel! He's had contact with them before, he's talked to the Oracles! I'm sure he would know some way we could, like, ask them or something."

"Where's Angel?"

"Erm… I'll get him for you. You don't dare go into that battle, you'll get killed without your Slayer powers!"

"Willow, I can't just—"

"No! Stay here!"

Willow had gone back into the battle and she was soon gone from K's sight.

They were some of the longest moments of K's life before Willow finally came back to her with Angel.

"Angel, you need to try to find out how to kill this demon. We're just stalling it, keeping it slow, but it's not doing anything."

"So what? You expect me to go to the Oracles?"

"It's the only plan we've got right now, Angel," Willow said. "Please. I'll go back in to fight, but you've got to come back with some information, or else we're all dead."

Angel nodded.

"Take me with you," K said. "I can't go in that fight without dying for sure, and I can't just stand around here and wait. I'm coming with you."

"Can't argue with that," Angel said. "But there's no way that I know of to get to any Conduit to the Powers that Be from New York."

"I'm sure there's a way," K said. "Let's go find out."

"We're counting on you two," Willow said. "You have to act as fast as possible. I'm going back in. Good luck."

"Good luck," Angel and K said back as Willow disappeared into the rumble.

Angel and K carefully snuck out of the building together. Now that the sun was down, they would be able to move freely anywhere.

"I say we get back to the hotel and look at one of Willow's books," K said. "Maybe check out the internet, too."

Angel nodded. "It's the only plan we've got."

They drove as fast as they could back to the hotel where they went through every book Willow had brought.

"Here!" K exclaimed. "Servants to Higher Powers… Servants to the Powers that Be! There are those Oracles you talked to before… but we can only get them from LA… plus, they're dead. Oh! There's a minor Goddess we can reach from New York!"

"Where?"

"Umm… on a small island near the Statue of Liberty."

"Well, that's not exactly close by."

"I doubt we'll find a closer one. How long will it take to get there?"

Angel typed into Willow's laptop. "About twenty minutes if we don't obey traffic laws."

"Then we'd better leave now."

They ran down back to the van, and Angel's insane driving nearly got them killed, but got them to the docks by the Statue of Liberty. It was a miracle that no one questioned their beat-up state. Angel stole a small motorboat, and the two of them made it to the Statue of Liberty.

"I've always wanted to be a tourist at this place," K said looking at the giant copper statue. "I mean, I came here once when I was a little girl, but I never appreciated it."

"I wish we had time to now," Angel said. "But which way is the island?"

"It said South East… ah! I think it's that one!" K said, squinting her eyes to see a little island in the distance.

Angel revved up the motor, and they were on their way.

When they reached the island, it was almost completely empty except for a cave and a few surrounding trees.

"Well," K started, "my bet is that she's down in the cave."

The two of them climbed down the rocky cave, which seemed to go infinitely lower. K was certain that they were way under sea level. The cave seemed to go on forever into the dark until there was a dim light at the end of the tunnel. They were both attracted to the light like flies, and went down there as soon as possible.

The Goddess was beautiful. Pale, pure, and the essence of everything good. Her hair sprawled down in curls until it fell to her waist, and her pale eyes matched her pale skin.

"Hello," her voice rang and echoed on the walls of the cave. "Can I help you?"

"I… um…" Angel was stunned by her beauty.

"We need some information," K said. "D-do we need to give you an offering?"

"Hmmmm," the Goddess sang. "I can feel warmth… love… in both of you. You're bloody… fighting for those you love… that's more than enough."

"Um, okay. Well, you are a servant to the Powers that Be, correct?"

"Correct," she sang.

"We need to know how they came to rule the Earth. There were the Old Ones… and for a brief period of time there were these demons that were alive for such a short period of time that they weren't even documented. The Powers that Be destroyed them almost right after they came to life. We need to know how."

"Why?"

"One of those demons is back. Risen by a group of vampires. It's killing the ones we love. We need to know how to stop it."

The Goddess giggled. "Please stay for a while," she sang. "It gets awfully lonely down here."

"Please," K begged. "We need to know."

"There's a song," she said. "A beautiful song… I sang it myself… it destroyed the demon."

"A song," K said. "What is it?"

"It should not be sung by just any human."

"Well, luckily, we haven't got any of those. We have a powerful witch, a couple of vampires, and a whole army of Slayers, and—"

"You, my dear, are the one to sing it."

"I don't have to sing it," K said. "Angel can sing it. Or Buffy or Willow… there's nothing special about me."

The Goddes laughed. Her laughter rang through K's body, causing her to shake. "Only you, my child, like how it was only me."

"But why? Why does it have to be me?"

"You are Chosen."

"What?"

"You are Chosen, my child, and now you will sing."

"But why me?"

"Isn't it obvious?"

"No!"

She laughed again. "You are strange. Strange and beautiful and you hail above the others in your innocence and happiness. You think for yourself and are set apart from those around you. You are—"

"Weird," K interrupted. "You're saying I'm weird."

"You are Chosen."

"But I can't—"

"Are you afraid?"

"N-no. Not at all."

"Do this for love."

K froze. Spike. He was still there, soulless. The Slayers endlessly fighting. She slowly nodded.

"Sing, my chosen child, and there is nothing you can't bring to those you love. Use your true power."

"My true power?"

"Your strongest power."

K sighed. "All right. What's the song?"

The Goddess extended her hand. K took it.

Music. She heard music fill the whole room. It was a beautiful melody, with the notes sharp enough to give her a mild headache.

"Angel…" K said softly. "C-can you hear that?"

He shook his head. "Hear what?"

The song played on until it slowed and came to a steady stop. K's hand was freed by the Goddess.

"Now go," she said. "And sing. Save the ones you love, my Chosen Child."


	17. Soulful

**Author's Notes:**

So this is the last chapter! I know the ending is kind of crap, but that's because I got an idea for a new fanfiction I want to write. Just so you know, I'll be using this OC a lot. The rest of it, however, belongs to Joss, and I hope you enjoyed reading and thanks so much and I will stop rambling now. On with the show!

**Soulful**

"So you heard the song?" Angel asked as the two of them were driving back to the vampire nest.

K nodded. "She sang it to me."

"And you remember it?"

"When it's sung like that, it's not easy to forget."

"And you know how to sing it?"

"Exactly how," K assured him. "It's going to work. Trust me, I can feel it."

Angel didn't question her any more as he pulled into the parking lot and ran out back into the building.

The battle still raged on the ground floor. Slayers were on the dust-covered floor. K didn't even want to think if they were dead or not. The beast had not gotten far with the army holding it back, but it still lashed out is wrath as it got angrier and hungrier.

"I'm trusting you're going to do this right," Angel said before diving himself back into the rumble.

K cleared her throat, and looked straight at the demon, unblinking. "_Oh, come to me my sweet,_" she started to sing. "_Oh, rest, and be at peace. For we are here and here we sing, and now the new, we must bring_."

The demon froze. The Slayers were startled by its unmoving state and froze as well.

"_Here, now hear this song and be at peace. Let us hold you, let us keep you, let us take your blood, your essence, your soul._"

The room was completely silent except for K's voice. All eyes were on her.

"_Now rest, darkness, rest. Sleep for eternity and never rise again. Lie in the dirt, lie in the dust. Your life means nothing as we Be, and take our word, and sleep. Rest as we rise, oh, rest as we rise. Lovers will kill you if you dare speak, so sleep, foul beast, sleep._"

The demon began to shriek as its hands went up to its head.

"_And now, as I sing, you will be no more, for I am light, I am pure. Fall as we rise, oh, fall as we rise._"

Wind rushed from nowhere and everyone ducked so they wouldn't be swept away.

"_Die as we rise, oh, die as we rise._"

The wind stopped. The demon was gone.

The two armies glanced at each other for a brief moment before the battle became red hot again. The Slayers had to finish off the vampires.

Willow was able to escape as she approached K.

"It's gone," K told her. "But I don't have my power back."

"That was amazing, K, I—"

"No time for all that. We can discuss it later, but right now, we've just got to get Spike's soul back into him."

"Right. Of course. I brought some magic ingredients with me just in case, so I should be able to get his soul back… but I don't have the right things for your Slayer powers."

K shook her head. "That doesn't matter, I don't care about that now. I just need Spike's soul. Let's go somewhere else, somewhere safer, and we can do the spell."

They went outside into the night, away from the raging battle, and set up the spell in the shadows of the building. Willow had done this spell so many times, she felt like she could do it in her sleep. She did the spell like it was nothing at all.

"So that's it, then?" K asked. "Spike should have his soul back?"

"I'm fairly certain. And once we get back to the Slayer HQ, I'll be able to get the ingredients to help you get your powers back."

"Thanks, Will, but it's not that important right now." K pulled out the key that was in her pocket. "I need to help Spike. Can you and the rest of the army take care of the rest of the vampires?"

"Definitely. We've dropped the numbers significantly, and now that the demon is gone, it should be easy. Just like going on patrol. You go help Spike, we'll take care of it."

They both rushed back into the building, Willow going back into the battle, and K beginning to rush up the floors.

"Oh, God, how many floors were in this building again?" K asked herself as she went onto the third floor. She could barely remember. All she was focused on was Spike.

"There are six," said a voice.

K turned around.

Charlie laughed. "So that's where the key went."

K swallowed a nervous lump in her throat. _Shit_, she thought. _I don't have any Slayer powers to kill this guy. But…_

"If you come any closer, I will kill you," K threatened, trying to sound intimidating.

Charlie just laughed again. "I know for a fact that you don't have your Slayer powers back. And you're such a small and cute little girl." The next second, he was right next to K, his hand gripping the collar of her shirt. "Maybe I should just keep you to myself instead of letting Spike have you."

"Go ahead and kill me if you must," K said through gritted teeth. "But you've lost. And soon you're going to die. And Spike will be okay and free, and that's all I need to die at peace. So if it's completely necessary, _go ahead and do it_."

He laughed again and his face transformed into his true visage. He leaned in and placed his mouth on her neck, piercing her skin with his sharp teeth.

K closed her eyes. She just wanted to scream at the pain, but held it in with one breath. She could begin to feel the blood leave her body when it suddenly… stopped. She fell to the ground in a worn out heap. Charlie was simply the dust floating in the air with one of the wooden arrows from the crossbow falling to the ground.

K's eyes were almost closing. She had lost so much blood. But she forced herself to look up. "B-Buffy?"

"Yeah," Buffy said, putting her crossbow down. "Are you okay?"

"I think so," K said. She slowly got up, using a nearby chair for help. She almost toppled over again once she was up, though, but she kept her balance nicely. "You killed him."

Buffy nodded. "We finished downstairs so I came up just in case there were any left. He was the last of 'em."

"Th-thank you," K stammered.

"Are you okay? Can you walk without falling over?"

K chuckled. "Yeah, I think so…"

"If you're good, you'd better go up and get Spike. The rest of us are out in the parking lot. We'll wait for you."

"Thank you, Buffy," K repeated. "I mean, really… Thank you."

She just nodded again, and then left her as she went back downstairs.

K took a moment to really appreciate Buffy, and then remembered she had a job to do. She ran upstairs to Spike, still locked in chains.

"Oh, Spike," K said.

"K…" he said softly. "I'm…"

"Yes?" K asked. "Are you okay?"

"I'm… so sorry."

She kissed him full on the lips and then several times on his cheeks and forehead. "Oh my God, Spike," she said between kisses. "You're back. You're okay."

"I am so sorry," Spike said again.

"Don't be sorry," K said, holding his face carefully in her small hand. "That wasn't you, that wasn't the Spike who loves me. But you're back, and…" Tears began to stream down her face. "And I'm so happy that you're back. Oh, God, Spike, I love you so much."

"Well, I think you're okay."

"Wh-what?"

"And I even like you. And I love you. And I more than love you." Spike smiled.

K laughed and coughed and hiccupped at the same time. She kissed him again. "Oh. God. Right, I almost forgot." She put the key in his handcuffs and freed him.

Together, the two of them walked outside, met with the Slayer army, and went to the back of the hotel.

"I think we can call this mission a success," Willow said.

"Right," Buffy said. "We did good. Um, thanks, and I guess that's it. We should start heading back to HQ now."

As the army of Slayers began to get into vans and driving off, the original 9 who came to the hotel went to their rooms and gathered their things and weapons.

In room 717, K and Spike packed their things.

"You… are bloody fantastic, you know that?"

K smiled as she zipped up her bag. "I'm just a normal girl. Literally, I don't even have Slayer powers now."

"Bugger that! You and normal? Those words can't even go into the same idea together. Bloody impossible, that is. You're extraordinary, and you're beautiful, and I love you."

"C'mon," K said. "Let's go down to the van."

K started to walk out the hotel room door, when Spike stopped her by grabbing her hand. She looked at him; he shook his head.

"No," he said softly. "Let's run away together."


End file.
